The Tale of Four Brothers
by Unknown-nin345
Summary: Four brothers, all cursed by what they hold. They grow & learn to be one with the shadows, but now their father & mentor decides the four should step into the light & show the world what they can do…
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

**Unknown-nin345: 'Ello there everybody and welcome to the first chapter of The Tale of Four Brothers. I'm going to keep this short so you can get to the story.**

**--Pairings (that are for certain): Naruto x Hinata; Oc x Tayuya; Oc x Ayame; Oc x Shizune**

**Summary: Four brothers, all cursed by what they hold. They grow & learn to be one with the shadows, but now their father & mentor decides the four should step into the light & show the world what they can do…**

"All right class! Remember: tomorrow is your final exam, so get a good night sleep and a good breakfast." Umino Iruka said to his class of shinobi's-to-be. He watched with a small smile as the class quickly filed out of the room. When the teacher thought all of his students had left he sat down at his desk and started looking over a couple papers that were lying about.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei?" A soft voice spoke up from in front of him. Iruka looked up and was met with the sight of his favorite whisker-marked, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, goggle-wearing, orange-loving, hyperactive ninja-in-training, Uzumaki Naruto.

The scarred teacher smiled and asked, "What's up Naruto?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I was wondering if I could ask you something." He said a little nervously.

"Shoot."

Naruto was silent for a moment before he let out a deep breath and walked over to the window, leaning his forehead against the cool glass. "Have you ever wanted something badly Sensei? But you knew that unless something big happened you'd never be able to go after it?" The blonde boy asked his teacher.

Iruka frowned slightly as he thought a bit on the question. He stood up and walked over to stand by the blonde boy. When he reached Naruto's side he noticed that the blonde seemed to be staring at something in particular. He followed his student's line-of-sight and found himself looking at the shy Hyuuga heiress.

Iruka smiled lightly and said, "I'm sorry to say that I've never felt that way before Naruto. All I can offer are two bits of wisdom that came from these fortune cookies I read once."

Naruto looked up at him, a little amused, and asked, "Fortune cookies?"

Iruka nodded solemnly. "Yep, from fortune cookies. Now, one read: _'If you ever find yourself doubting the road you walk, listen to your heart in order to steady your feet.'_"

"And what was on the other one?" Naruto asked.

Iruka lowered himself down so he was eye-level with Naruto and said, "It read: _'The part of a man that shall be tested with the hardest trials will not be his mind or his body; it will be his heart that shall have to endure.'_" He finished, briefly laying a hand over Naruto's heart.

Naruto brought his own hand over his heart before he looked back up at his sensei and smiled brightly. "Thanks Sensei. I'll see you tomorrow!" With that he opened up a window and took off.

Iruka watched the blonde make his way across the Academy courtyard before he disappeared around the gate. The scarred teacher went back to his desk, chuckling to himself.

"Who'd have thunk it? Naruto actually likes Hinata that way," He said to the empty room as he got back to work.

---- (Scene Change) ----

Meanwhile Naruto ran lithely through the streets of Konohagakure, barely making a breeze as he ran. His heart, which had been troubled, had been greatly lightened by Iruka's words and his smile was stretched from ear-to-ear. Finally, after ten minutes of swift running, Naruto turned into a narrow and dark alley.

He walked over to a green dumpster that was located in the alley and quickly crawled under it. The blonde soon came to a sewer entrance which he quietly lifted open. Once the manhole was uncovered he lowered himself down it before he pulled the manhole cover back over his head.

The blonde boy then descended down the ladder into the dank sewer below. Waiting at the bottom of the ladder was an orange skateboard leaning against the wall. Naruto pulled it off the wall and started boarding down a route that had been second nature to the boy for years.

"Yo Naruto!" A voice shouted from the blonde's left. The blonde skateboarder looked over to the source of the voice and saw one of the three people he called brother riding a purple bike.

The boy on the bike had shaggy brown hair that ended in between his shoulder blades in two short ponytails and stood at 5'6''. His eyes were a bright yellow and had a black ring in the middle of the yellow. He was wearing a dark-blue long-sleeve shirt with a purple vest over it along with loose purple pants and black tabis. Attached to his white belt were a first aid kit, a holster for kunai/shuriken, and a specially designed holster for sebon needles. His name was Ikazuchi Denkou.

"Yo Denkou!" Naruto shouted back with a small smile and a short wave. He turned his attention back to the ground in front of him and swerved around a piece of rotting wood that lay in his intended path. He heard the sound of rubber bouncing when Denkou hopped over the rotting wood.

Soon the two arrived at a section of the sewer that looked no different that the rest and stopped at it; Naruto flipping his skateboard to his hand and Denkou folding up his bike. Naruto then place his free hand on a certain part of the stone wall before the two. After a couple seconds a small section of the wall slid up, revealing a shaft leading straight down along with a pitch-black ladder.

Naruto went down it first, followed by Denkou. When the two of them reached the bottom they started walking side-by-side down a hallway that looked very different from the sewer they had just left and was lit every few feet by a torch that burned with a blue flame.

"You ready for the final test tomorrow?" Denkou asked to break the silence.

Naruto nodded as he answered. "Yeah, with Iruka-sensei being the teacher the test should at least be fair this year."

Denkou grunted in agreement and the two walked in a comfortable silence before the brunette broke the silence once more. "Sooo…when are you gonna grow some balls and ask her out?"

"I'll ask her when Nadare manages to ask Ayame-chan out." Naruto replied without missing a beat.

"Well you better figure out how you're going to do that then." Denkou said, chuckling lightly. When Naruto looked over at him he explained, "Before I came down I saw Nadare exiting Ichiraku's and he was doing a little victory dance. Want to guess what that might mean?"

Naruto hung his head and sighed, "He asked her out. Man, now I owe Kaen fifty ryou." Denkou laughed lightly.

Soon, the two brothers came to what others would have thought to be a dead end. Both reached into one of their pockets and drew out a long cloth which they proceeded to tie around their heads at eye level, the part covering their eyes was white and had been designed to protect them from the Uchiha's Sharingan. Naruto's was orange and Denkou's was purple.

Denkou then reached out and pushed three different bricks into the wall in front of them. The two watched as half of the wall slid up while the other half slid down, revealing the extremely large room that lay beyond it. The large, square room could effectively be divided into five different sections.

In one corner of the room was a fully stocked kitchen; complete with an oven, fridge, microwave, cupboards, assorted cookbooks, and a table to eat at. Naruto was the only one allowed to use the stove though, since he was the only one who could manage to not burn water.

Another corner had technological stuff; there was a dozen TV's, various movies, video games along with their respective consoles, a stereo system, and a computer. A comfy sofa also rested in the corner along with a small circle table for snacks.

The third corner was a rest and relaxation area with meditation mats, incense, and even a hammock.

In the final corner of the room was a large library with books ranging from sci-fi to fantasy to history to technique scrolls to even erotica novels.

Taking up the center of the room was a large training mat that was used for sparring and taijutsu training. Many bumps, bruises, cuts, and even a couple broken bones were earned here.

Finally, there were three doors, one on each wall (not counting the secret door Naruto and Denkou were currently standing in). Two were normal wooden ones while the third was of the type normally seen in an important dignitaries home (the kind that slides).

Naruto and Denkou stepped forward as the stone door slid back into place behind the two and then set their respective wheels on either side of the secret entrance. Looking around the two spotted their brother, Kajiarashi Kaen, resting in the hammock as he listened to his i-pod, bobbing his head to the beat of the music.

The boy lying in the hammock was the only one of the four brothers that was completely bald. He was wearing only a black trench coat on his torso with a ring hanging on a cord around his neck; the ring was designed to look like two serpents intertwined, both were crowned with a golden flower, one serpent's head was devouring the other's tail, and in between the two serpents was a small emerald **(a/n: Google 'Ring of Barahir' to get a good idea of what I'm trying to describe)**. He was wearing black cargo pants that had blazing red wave designs on the sides along with black steel-toed combat boots. The headband he wore was red, which served to cover up his sea-green eyes. He stood at 5'8''.

Denkou walked over Kaen and tapped the boy on his shoulder. The boy turned his bald head up to Denkou and removed his headphones.

"What?" He asked; sounding slightly agitated.

"Is Nadare down here yet?" Denkou asked.

Kaen gestured out with a hand and said, "Does it look like he's here yet? Now if you don't mind, I'd like a few minutes of peace before the 'fearless leader' gets here." With that he put his headphones back in his ears and leaned back in the hammock.

Denkou shook his head at his brother's antics and looked up to see where Naruto had gone to. He saw the blonde standing over in the kitchen preparing a homemade pizza.

The brown-haired boy walked over to Naruto and asked, "What's it going to be tonight?"

Without looking up from his work Naruto shortly answered, "Buffalo chicken and extra cheese."

"Mmm. My favorite." Denkou said, rubbing his stomach in anticipation.

Suddenly the door to their left opened and the final brother, Hamato Nadare, came back-flipping through the opening. When he reached the training mat he launched up into the air, flipping head-over-heels four times before he came down on one hand.

The final brother had bright, snow-white hair that he kept in a short flattop with a short braid going down the right side of his head. He wore a dark grey t-shirt underneath a blue combat vest that he left open and blue shinobi pants that had streaks of grey running down the legs that tucked into black sock in blue shinobi-styled sandals. The white-haired youth had blue bracers that stretched from the back of his hands to his elbows. On his back rested a katana in a blue sheath with the handle being wrapped in blue cloth. His eyes, had they not covered by his blue headband, were a keen, intense, and stormy grey. His height came out to 5'7''.

He looked up at Naruto and Denkou and asked, "How was that?"

Denkou held up a card that had a red eight on it while Naruto and Kaen, neither having stopped what they were doing to watch, both held up seven point fives.

Nadare brought his feet down and stood up. "Are you guys ever going to give me a ten?" He asked his brothers.

"Maybe someday, who knows?" Denkou answered with a shrug.

Nadare sighed and walked over to the kitchen area. "What's on the menu for tonight?" He asked, noticing Naruto slide something into the oven.

"Buffalo chicken and extra cheese." Naruto said as he reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of soda.

"Sounds good." Nadare commented as he pulled a bottle of tea from the fridge.

Denkou, meanwhile, walked over to the library and picked a random book off the shelf before settling into a nearby chair. A silence descended on the room, broken only by the faint murmurs of the music Kaen was listening to.

After he had taken a couple sips of his tea Nadare asked, "Do you guys think Master Splinter will let us go all out for tomorrows test?"

"Depends on if he thinks we're ready." Denkou said without looking up from his book.

"Well I don't know about you dudes, but I really hope Splinter lets us." Naruto said before taking a gulp of his soda. "I really want to put Sasuke-teme in his place."

"From what you've told us about the little prick, I think he deserves more than that." Kaen said as he walked over to the kitchen and grabbed his own drink. "Like shoving a big stick right up his a--"

"Good afternoon, my sons." An aged voice interrupted Kaen.

The four brothers turned to the source of the voice (Denkou rising out of his chair) and bowed to their father as well as mentor. "Good afternoon Master Splinter."

If anyone else had been present they would have surely thought the four brothers were out of their minds since Splinter wasn't even human. He was a giant rat that walked on his hind legs and carried with him always, a short knobby walking stick. His fur was brown, bordering in some areas on black, and he had a little tuft at his chin that could have been regarded as a goatee. The rat-man was wearing a red karate gi with black shoulder paldrouns as his only means of clothing.

Splinter walked over to kitchen area, his walking stick tapping against the stone floor. "Once you finish eating we shall begin your exercises. It would not do for your skills to dull on the eve of your final exam."

The four brothers looked at each other in surprise before Nadare asked, "Does that mean you're giving us permission to go all out tomorrow Sensei?"

Splinter nodded, "Yes, but use caution my sons. Try not to reveal all of your skills, for keep in mind: Deception is a ninja's greatest ally."

"Wahoo!" Naruto shouted. "So, can I finally get rid of this disguise?" He asked with excitement showing in every part of his body.

Splinter nodded with a smile. He chuckled as Naruto quickly ran off to the room the brothers shared. The old rat then filled a kettle with some hot water and put it on the stove so that he could have some traditional tea.

When Naruto emerged from the bedroom, any who had known him before would have been hard-pressed to recognize him since he no longer looked like the scrawny midget he had before and it looked like he actually had muscles.

His blonde hair, which had been in clumped spikes before now, stuck up in stringy spikes, making it look like he had been shocked by lightning with a couple strands falling down to his face. He was wearing an orange tank top underneath a black jacket that had orange flames trailing along the sleeves and the hem of the jacket with a red spiral on his back that he left open. His pants were a dark orange with black flames running along the hems along with black shinobi-styled sandals. His orange headband was still in its place and covered his sapphire blue eyes while his green goggles had been moved down to rest on his neck. Attached to a black belt he was wearing were a special pair of nunchuks; they were made from a special chakra-hardened wood and were overlaid with a thin sheaf of steel. Whereas before when he stood at 4'11'', he now stood at 5'6''.

Kaen looked at him and said, "Well, that's a damn sight better than that hideous jumpsuit you were wearing before."

"Hey!" Naruto said and pointed a finger at Kaen. "Don't be dissing the orange, for he who disses the orange shall pay," He intoned deeply.

Kaen chuckled. "Right, even you have to admit that the jumpsuit you were wearing was hideous. Orange is okay when it's dark, but it should never be that damn bright." Nadare and Denkou nodded their agreement.

"Gah. Whatever." Naruto scoffed as he made his way back to the stove to check on the pizza. He looked in the oven before he nodded to himself and slipped on an oven mitt before he lifted the pan that held the pizza out. The other brothers came closer to get their own slice of the heavenly goodness known as 'pizza'.

Naruto held up a hand and said, "Dudes, dudes, please. A moment to reflect."

"Ah." Nadare and Denkou said as they nodded in agreement before all four deeply breathed in the aroma of the pizza. They sighed in contentment and nodded at each other.

"Let's eat." Naruto said as he threw the pizza into the air while Nadare quickly sliced it into 16 slices that fell back onto the pan. The four brothers each took four slices from the pan and settled down to eat.

"Stupendous, as always, Naruto." Denkou complimented after a mouthful of the pizza.

Nadare nodded and said, "Seriously, if this ninja thing doesn't work out for ya, you could always become a chef."

"It's okay, I guess." Kaen said.

Naruto smiled and held a hand over his heart as he said, "Please, stop with the compliments, you're smothering me here." All four chuckled as they went back to eating; off to the side Splinter just shook his head in amusement.

When Nadare, Denkou, and Kaen finished the three went into the bedroom and came back out with their own weapons; Nadare a second katana identical to his other one, Denkou a five-foot bo staff that had purple wrapping in the middle of it, and Kaen had a pair of sais with the metal being tinted red.

The four brothers then made their way to the training mat and began their exercises. First was a bunch of calisthenics.

Then came a light four-way taijutsu sparring match, nothing was ever held back which of course meant that all four received their share of bloody noses, cut lips, and bruises. They took a small break so that Denkou could help speed up the healing of all their wounds.

Once their healing factor, and Denkou, had finished they proceeded to spar with their weapons, going three-on-one in order for each to have a chance attacking and defending. Once again, they took a small break in order for gained wounds to heal.

When they were finished healing Splinter walked into the center of the training mat and kneeled down. He lit and placed in front of him a lavender-scented candle before he clapped twice, extinguishing all light except for the candle's flame.

"Remember my sons, to be a true ninja one must become one with the shadow. Darkness gives the ninja power, while Light reveals the ninja's presence." Splinter said to the four brothers. He then lifted the candle and held it at chest level as he said, "Now then, can you extinguish this flame without revealing yourselves?"

There was silence for a minute before one of Splinter's ears twitched and he ducked slightly, just a dark shape went flying where his head had been and crashed into the sofa over in the tech corner.

"Too noisy Denkou." Splinter critiqued.

Another shape came hopping up on the rat-man's left, once it reached Splinter the rat-man launched up with his walking stick, hooking onto the shape's ankle and flipping it over to land right on Denkou, getting two groans of pain from both shapes.

"Too clumsy Naruto." Splinter said.

A third shape was tip-toeing up from behind Splinter that lunged a couple feet behind the rat-man who once again ducked. The shape managed to land on its feet and tried a direct attack. Splinter simply sidestepped and stuck out his walking stick which tripped the shape that went rolling over where Naruto and Denkou lay. Shouts of pain came from all three when they collided.

"Poor choice Kaen." Splinter admonished.

A dark shape suddenly descended down from the ceiling. There were two brief flashes of light and the candle in Splinter's hand split in half, the top part went spinning through the air before it landed down on one of Nadare's katana's. The white-haired boy brought the lavender-scented candle to his lips and blew out the flame.

The lights came on and the three tangled brothers untangled as Splinter said, "Well done Nadare."

Once Kaen managed to get to his feet he mumbled, "Splinter Jr."

Nadare just managed to catch it and mumbled back, "Hothead."

Naruto and Denkou just looked at each other and shook their heads in exasperation.

Suddenly a red light started flashing on each of the four brothers' left arm right in the middle of their biceps, shining through the clothing. Naruto and Denkou groaned while Nadare and Kaen just stared in silence. After a couple of minutes the light stopped flashing and a paper seal appeared in the air over where the red light had just been. As soon as the seal appeared each of the four brothers began changing.

Nadare's white hair grew out a bit and became shaggier while his braid stayed the same. His ears changed from normal human ears to dark-grey wolf ears that moved up to the top of his head. His jaw extended forward about half an inch while his canine teeth elongated with the rest becoming pointier. He grew dark-grey fur along his arms that stayed in a thin line along the outer side of them while his fingernails elongated into claws. A dark-grey wolf's tail sprouted just above the boy's butt.

Denkou's brown hair turned a shade lighter and grew an inch or two. His human ears shrunk a bit and turned into weasel's ears that moved up a little higher. His pupils lengthened horizontally while shrinking vertically until they resembled actual weasel's eyes. His jaw lengthened out farther than Nadare's while a small amount of light-brown fur appeared on his face and his teeth all became pointed. His fingernails sharpened and extended a little. Finally, a light-brown weasel's tail extended out from a spot above his butt.

Naruto's blonde hair extended out a couple inches and gained splashes of red coloring. His jaw extended out, farther than Nadare's but shorter than Denkou's, while his whisker marks darkened before becoming actual whiskers and his canine teeth elongated so much that they extended past his lips. His fingernails sharpened greatly before they jutted out an inch. A crimson foxtail with a black tip appeared at the base of his spine. Finally, the black pupils of his sapphire blue eyes became slitted, just like a foxes.

Unlike the others, Kaen didn't grow any hair. Instead, he took off his trench coat as a large turtles shell appeared on his back with a turtles underbelly appearing over his torso while his skin turned dark green. His index and middle fingers merged together, as did his ring finger and pinky. Down at his feet, his toes shifted and merged together so that, instead of five toes, he only had two. His top and lower lips jutted out a bit to form a, sort of, beak.

As soon as the transformation finished, all four grabbed the paper tag that was hovering over their arm.

Splinter watched as his sons in all but blood looked at the tags in their hand before he began speaking. "For fourteen years, I have taught you all that I know about being kage-buke. For fourteen years, you four have endured this curse that has been laid upon you by the demons contained with your bodies. Know that no matter what occurs tomorrow, I will always be proud of you, my sons." The four brothers placed their hands flat against each and bowed.

"We will not fail, father." The four sons said as one.

**--- (End Chapter) ---**

**Unknown-nin345: I'm sure that some of you have guessed by now that I'm using the popular show/movie/video game: ****Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles**** as my basis for this story. I kept Splinter's name in English because the Japanese version of 'Splinter', which is 'Sakuhen', just doesn't sound as good. Also, as I'm sure you guessed, each of the four brothers is a Jinchuuriki. **

**Character/Bijuu Type/Bijuu's name**

**- Kaen = Three-tailed turtle, Isonade.**

**- Nadare = Five-tailed wolf, Houkou.**

**- Denkou = Six-tailed weasel, Raijuu.**

**- Naruto = Nine-tailed fox, Youko.**

**This is Unknown-nin345 signing off. **

**COWABUNGA!!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Unknown-nin345: Hello and welcome to the second chapter of The Tale of Four Brothers. I left you all hanging last time with the revealing of the 'curse' Naruto, Kaen, Denkou, and Nadare bear because of the bijuu they hold. I didn't want to go full out with a TMNT crossover and make all four of them turtles since that wouldn't really fit what I have in mind for the story. **

**Anywho, at least now, I can give you all a proper list of the pairings:**

**--Naruto X Hinata; Kaen X Tayuya; Nadare X Ayame; Denkou X Shizune.**

**P.S- I hate mid-terms.**

**Summary: Four brothers, all cursed by what they hold. They grow & learn to be one with the shadows, but now their father & mentor decides the four should step into the light & show the world what they can do…**

--- (The next morning) ---

Inside the 'Den', as the four brothers called it, the four were going through light warm-up katas, both with weapons and without (back in the disguises of their seals). They weren't doing anything too serious since they didn't want to wear themselves out before the final exam. When they were finished with their katas, they settled down into the lotus position and meditated for about ten minutes.

When they were ready to go, Naruto and Denkou grabbed their skateboard and bike respectively, and all four headed to the door.

Before they left, Splinter came out of his room and said, "Good luck, my sons."

Naruto smirked as he replied, "You don't need luck when you have awesome skills like us." Kaen bopped him on the back of the head. "Dow! Geez, why do ya have to hit so hard?" He asked with a small glare at Kaen.

Kaen smirked and said, "Because it's fun." With that, he turned and left, a pouting Naruto following behind him. Denkou waved goodbye to Splinter while Nadare bowed.

Once they were all gone, Splinter sighed and shook his head, "Kids."

Out in the stone hallway, Nadare picked up a blue scooter while Kaen swapped his combat boots for a pair of red roller blades. Together the four walked a short distance to a ladder and all climbed up it, emerging in a sewer line. Once Nadare and Denkou had unfolded their rides, the four took off down the sewer. A short while later, the four brothers stopped at another ladder and set their rides down on either side of it before they climbed up the rungs and came out in an alley that was nearby the ninja academy.

Together, the four brothers walked through the gate and up to the academy. As the four all walked side-by-side to the building, the students muttered amongst themselves, especially those from Naruto's class.

The brothers ignored all that they heard whispered about them and just walked straight into the academy. When they reached the corridor where all their classes were they faced each other and stuck out their fists towards each other.

"Strength and Honor," The four brothers said as one. They nodded to each other and went to their classrooms, each prepared to do whatever it would take to pass.

When Naruto entered the classroom, he looked around and saw that only two other students were seated already, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame.

"Naruto?" The blonde turned his head and saw Iruka looking at him a little strange.

Naruto answered the question with a question, "What's up sensei?"

By this time both Hinata and Shino had looked up, each with their own thoughts about this 'new' Naruto.

'_Hmm, Naruto-san is making my Kikai-senses tingle. I have a feeling he is going to embarrass the Uchiha today.'_ Shino thought with his Kikai bugs softly buzzing their agreement.

'_Oh! My! Kami-sama! Naruto-kun is so fucking hot!'_ Were Hinata's thoughts while she blushed a bright crimson color.

Iruka gestured at his appearance and asked, "What happened?"

Naruto smiled lightly and underneath the headband, his blue eyes flickered over to Hinata as he answered shortly, "Something big."

Iruka smiled back. "Well, I hope you're ready for the exam," He said to the blonde.

"You know me Iruka-sensei," Naruto said. He then turned towards the aisle and started climbing the steps.

When she noticed that Naruto didn't seem to be stopping at any of the other rows her mind started going into overdrive, _'Is he going to sit by me? No, why would he want to? But what if he does? What will I do? What will I say? Oh-no, he's…Kami-sama; he's got a six pack!'_ Indeed, now that he was so close she could the muscles on his torso that the orange tank top he wore did nothing to hide.

"Hey Hinata, do you mind if I sit here?" Naruto asked gesturing to the empty seat on the shy girl's right.

Hinata simply shook her head, not trusting her voice at the moment. Naruto smiled and nodded his thanks as he sat down.

Once seated, he turned to face Shino, who was sitting in the first seat of the row next to him, and said, "Hey Shino, there's something I've always wanted to say to you." When the glasses-wearing boy turned in his seat to look at him the blonde finished with a smile, "Your glasses are really cool."

A hint of a smile appeared at the edge of Shino's collar as he replied, "One could say the same about your jacket."

Naruto nodded down at his jacket and said, "Yeah, I guess orange does look better with black than it does blue." He turned over to the midnight blue-haired girl and asked, "What do you think Hinata?"

The shy girl glanced up from her twiddling fingers and softly said, "I think it makes you look ho-handsome."

Naruto blushed lightly when he caught her near slip-up as he said, "Thanks Hinata." Both the slip-up and Naruto's blush made Shino raise an eyebrow in curiosity.

Silence came down on the classroom as the four waited for all the other students to arrive. Each of the three students was occupied with their own thoughts in the silence, so no words were exchanged.

Naruto: _'Come on you coward, ask her already! But, what if she says no? Should it matter coward? You still would have asked her. Go on, ask her already!'_

Hinata: _'Oh Kami-sama! I can't believe I almost told Naruto-kun he was hot! I hope he didn't notice my slip-up. Hmm... I wonder what those muscles of his feel like. Oh, if only I could touch them. N0! Bad Hinata! No thinking naughty thoughts about Naruto-kun. But maybe a quick peek won't hurt. Bad Hinata!'_

Shino: _'Yes, but what if it was an African swallow?… I know they're non-migratory but just think. … I suppose so, but what if two swallows carried it? … They could grasp it by the husk! … Fine, you win this round.'_

Soon the class filled up with the rest of the students, some noticing Naruto's new look while others couldn't care less. A couple of students were surprised when Naruto didn't show any reaction when Haruno Sakura, his supposed crush, came into the room; Hinata was mentally doing an extreme happy dance at this point.

Iruka stood up and began addressing his class once he was sure everyone was in the room. "Well, this is it. I've tried to fill your thick heads with the knowledge on how to be a proper shinobi. There is still a lot more for you to learn though, and if you make it to be genin, it will be up to your jounin sensei's to teach you all some of the more finer points that I was unable to."

He looked around at them and smiled lightly as he said, "Now, onto your final exam. Hokage-sama has decided to do something slightly different this year. Instead of the Taijutsu portion of the exam being against one of your classmates, a small number of you are going to be fighting one-on-one against a student from one of the other classes."

Many of the students had shocked looks upon their faces and were about to shout out how unfair that was when Iruka simply held up a hand, a stern expression on his face.

"I know that many of you think that what I just said is unfair," The scarred teacher began, "But it's no different that what you will experience if you become a shinobi. More often than not, you will be going up against an opponent who will be a complete unknown to you. This is to prepare you so that you can be ready for when this might happen."

He reached down behind his desk and pulled up a purple box. "In this box are slips of paper that have a number on them. Each of you is going to come up, one at a time, and draw a number. You will then give it to me after memorizing your number and return to your seat. Once everyone has gotten a number, I'm going to write down six random numbers down on the board. If your number is on the board, then you will be fighting against a student from one of the other classes. If not, then you will be graded separately before the Ninjutsu and Genjutsu portion of the exam begins."

Iruka lifted a finger, pointed at the first student at the bottom right-hand corner of the classroom, and said, "Now, starting from there, come up one at a time and pick out your number."

Silently, the class started going up to the purple box to pick out their number, which they then handed to Iruka who wrote it down on a clipboard that was covered with a Genjutsu that would only let his eyes see what was written on it. Once the last student had handed his number to Iruka, the scarred teacher picked up the clipboard and began writing a specific set of numbers down. None of the students could see what was being written since Iruka's body was blocking the sight.

When he finished, Iruka turned back around and revealed to the class which numbers he had picked: thirteen, five, eight, ten, eighteen, and two.

"Would whoever drew these numbers please stand up?" Iruka asked his class. He was silent as he watched Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Uzumaki Naruto, and some random kid stood up.

"Congratulations, you six are going to be fighting against the students from the other three classes." Iruka said with a smile. Some smiled back while others smirked. "However, I want you to be absolutely clear on one thing: these fights will involve no Nin or Genjutsu whatsoever. These are fights where you will demonstrate your skill in Taijutsu only. If you do use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu of any kind, you will immediately fail the Taijutsu portion of the exam. Am I clear?" He asked. The six standing shinobi-hopefuls nodded in response.

"Good." Iruka said shortly. "Now, let's begin the written test." With that, the six sat back down and Iruka passed out the exam. For a little over an hour silence, save for the scratching of pencils and muttered curses of students, filled the room as the ninjas-to-be took their written tests. Once everyone had finished Iruka picked up the tests from the students and stacked them on his desk.

The scarred teacher then turned to the students and said, "Alright. For those of you who won't be fighting against the other students; when your name is called you will go through the door on my left and Mizuki will test your Taijutsu skills. For the six who will be fighting, follow me."

The six stood and followed their teacher, who had picked up his clipboard that had the six's names and numbers on it, out into the empty hallway. Once out there he led them out of the school where the sparring circles were. The other classes with their teachers, and one other female chunin that had an armband with an odd symbol on it had already gathered there and Naruto wasn't very surprised to see his brothers among the group picked.

Iruka walked up to the female chunin who was obviously not one of the instructors of the four classes and handed him his clipboard. The chunin nodded and compared it to the other three clipboards she had.

After a minute or two of nodding to herself she looked up and said, "Okay then, the first fight is between number six from Minahara's class against number two from Takemano's class." Two boys walked out to the middle of the circle and bowed to the chunin. She looked at both of them and said, "You both know the rules. No killing blows." She raised an arm and brought it down.

As one, the two boys rushed at each other and started fighting each other using the basic style taught at the Academy. The two were evenly matched until the boy from Minahara's class managed to score a blow to the other boy's solar plexus and quickly pinned the other boy to the ground while he was still out of breath.

"Alright number six, let him up." The head chunin said as she wrote something down on two of the clipboards. The two boys left the circle and rejoined their classes. The head chunin looked over the clipboards once more before she said, "Number thirteen from Umino's class and number four from Ikana's class, step forward."

Naruto and Kaen stepped to the middle of the circle. Off on the side, Nadare and Denkou chuckled in anticipation, drawing odd looks from the other students.

The head chunin looked at both and said, "Remember: no killing blows." After they both nodded, the head chunin brought her arm up, but stopped when she saw both fighters reaching into one of their pockets. Almost everyone there sweatdropped when both boys pulled out an i-pod.

The two cycled quickly through their songs before they stopped and placed the headphones in their ears. Before they pressed play though, they looked over at the head chunin and nodded. The head chunin brought her hand down with a shake of her head while the two brothers pressed play on their music players.

Their heads started bobbing to the music they were listening to, Naruto's at a faster rate then Kaen's, as they settled into their fighting stances. Naruto even started bouncing on the heels of his feet while Kaen slid out of his trench coat, leaving many of the girls gathered drooling at the sight of his very muscular upper body.

On some unseen signal, the two launched forward and commenced in a fast-paced dance of fists and feet. Nearly everyone watched in awe, and one certain brooder in jealousy, as the two sped up until all their movements flowed with the fluidity of water. To most of the students they didn't look like they were even hitting each other, but the chunins, as well as the other brothers, could see that the two were getting glancing hits in.

Suddenly, Naruto's head launched back as Kaen doubled over. The blond clasped a hand to his nose, where a hint of blood could be seen leaking down, while Kaen could be seen holding onto his stomach, a purple bruise already forming. Despite these injuries though, both of the fighters were grinning brightly.

Naruto brought his hand down from his nose, which was slightly bleeding, and asked, "Seconds?"

"Hell yeah." Kaen answered. Both brought their hands down to their i-pods and switched to a different song. The two then settled into a different fighting stance each and began their fight anew.

This time around, Naruto was using his feet and legs more in his attacks while Kaen seemed to have become an immovable rock. The only time he lifted his feet was to block any strikes that were too low for his arms, other than that he didn't move forward and he didn't move back. Once again, the two continued to up the speed of their fighting.

The students, and even the chunins, were left in awe at the skill these two showed in their Taijutsu. Truly, as Miato Gai might say, they were both geniuses of hard work if the ease with which they fought was any basis for the others to judge.

Soon though, Kaen managed to turn the tables on Naruto and caught one of the blonde's legs as it came at him. With a shout of effort, he threw the blonde straight out of the circle, thankfully not hitting any of the students or teachers.

As Naruto was standing back up the head chunin (who shall remain nameless) said, "Alright you two, that will do." Both fighters nodded to each other as they walked back to where they had been standing. As the blonde passed by Hinata, he quickly slipped a note into her coat pocket without anyone but the lavender-eyed girl noticing.

"Okay, number eight from Umino's class and number seven from Minahara's class," Said the head chunin.

Kiba walked forward with an arrogant strut and his dog Akamaru resting on his head as one of the females from Minahara's class came forward as well. She looked like one of the few kunoichi who actually cared about her ninja career if the way she held herself was any indication.

"Number eight; leave your nin-dog on the sidelines. This test is for your abilities alone, not yours and your dogs." The head chunin said.

Kiba scowled, but did as he was told. Once he looked back at his opponent, he winked suggestively at her, bringing an angry scowl to her face.

The head chunin brought her hand up as she said, "Remember, no killing." She brought it and in the blink of an eye along with a high-pitched scream, Kiba was down on the ground clutching his family jewels, moaning in pain. A couple boys grimaced in pain.

The smoky-white haired girl looked a little satisfied as she said, "I have a boyfriend no-nuts!"

Hinata used the time while everyone was focused on the match to quickly read the note that Naruto had placed in her pocket. Once she finished, she was blushing lightly at the words written and quickly placed the slip of paper back in her pocket.

The head chunin chuckled. "Alright number seven, that's enough. Someone help number eight back to the sidelines please." She said as she wrote down something on the clipboards. Iruka walked forward and picked up the moaning Inuzuka before carrying him back over to the sidelines.

The head chunin, who was still lightly chuckling, said, "Now then, number fifteen from Takemano's class and number ten from Umino's class step up."

The silent Shino and an equally silent boy walked to the center. Both bowed to each other and then settled into obscure fighting stances that only Kaen and Naruto recognized (had Maito Gai been there he would have recognized them as well). Shino was standing in the starting stance for the style known as Muay Thai, while the silent boy from Takemano's class had settled into the beginning stance for the style known as Hapkido.

After the head chunin had brought her fist down the silent boy advanced quickly, and the two were locked in their struggle. Whenever the boy from Takemano's class managed to get Shino in some sort of submission lock, the bug-user would bash the boy in his head with whichever elbow was closest.

After a while the two had backed off from each other, each breathing heavily from the pain each was going through, and realized that they could no longer fight effectively.

Both fighters bowed to each other and walked back to where they had been standing before the fight, surprising both the students and chunins.

"Well that was interesting," The head chunin said. She quickly wrote a couple notes down on the clipboards and moved on to choose the next fighters. "Number nineteen from Minahara's class and number two from Takemano's class, in the circle."

Denkou walked into the circle, after spearing his bo-staff into the earth, as well as a girl who could only be the twin of the one who had kneed Kiba in his balls. However, she looked like she had a bit more muscle than her sister did and had raven-black hair.

Denkou looked from her to her twin before he looked back at her and jerked his thumb at the other girl. "You two twins?" He asked, the girl simply nodded in response. "Ah."

The head chunin brought her hand down and the girl launched herself forward. Denkou barely got his hands up in time to block the kick to his shoulder.

"You're very forward, you know that?" The brunette asked with a good-natured smile.

The girl smiled back at him, tore her leg from his grasp, and quickly spun around to hit Denkou with a reverse roundhouse. Denkou ducked under the kick and attempted a sweep kick that the girl back flipped over.

As Denkou settled into his fighting stance he asked, "Am I right in guessing that you're the silent twin?"

The girl just attacked, using a lightning-fast fighting style that was hard for Denkou to react to. A lot of the time, it was only quick reflexes that allowed Denkou to block the blows. The black-haired girl was relentless in her assault, leaving the brunette little room to go on the offensive.

Soon though, Denkou found the opening he needed. He struck as fast as lightning, jabbing her in the solar plexus and spun around the breathless girl as she held onto her stomach. Once behind her Denkou poked a specific spot in the middle of her back that her collapse down to the ground, the nerves in her legs having been numbed.

"Very well done number nineteen," The head chunin complimented as wrote on her clipboard. "Could you help number two back over to the sidelines please?"

"Sure thing," Denkou responded as he moved over and wrapped one of her arms around her shoulders before he lifted her up. The silent girl's twin came up and placed her sister's other arm around her shoulders as the two carried her over to the sidelines.

Once the three made it over and set the silent girl down, both girls nodded their thanks. Denkou nodded back and walked back over to retrieve his staff, but not before he noticed the silent girl begin to use sign language to communicate with her sister.

"Alrighty then, number five from Umino's class and number nine from Takemano's class. Come into the sparring ring please," The head chunin said.

Hinata and a girl that could obviously be classified as a fangirl walked into the ring. Unlike usually, Hinata's posture wasn't timid or drawn in on herself, instead she actually seemed confident in what she could do. The reason for this metamorphosis was because of what the midnight-blue haired girl had read on Naruto's note.

The head chunin brought her hand down and the fight was over within a minute. The fangirl simply couldn't stand up to the Jyuuken fighting style. It took everything the blonde had not to shout and cheer for Hinata when he saw her win her fight.

The head chunin 'hemmed' and said, "Well that was fast. Now then, number one from Takemano's class and number two from Umino's class, into the ring."

Nadare walked into the ring after removing the holster that held his twin katana with a calm look on his face. Sasuke, meanwhile, was the epitome of smugness and arrogance as he entered the ring.

When the head chunin brought her hand down, the duck butt-haired Uchiha rushed forward to the stone-like Nadare. Just as the Uchiha was about to hit Nadare, the white-haired boy launched out and gripped Sasuke's arm in a death grip. Nadare squeezed down on the arm, drawing a grunt of pain from Sasuke and flipped the black-haired boy hard onto his back.

Sasuke rolled away and coughed a bit as he rose up to his feet. His face had gone beat-red in his anger as he once again charged. This time Nadare sidestepped the charging boy as he stuck out a leg, once more sending the Uchiha into the dirt. This continued for a bout a minute longer in the same fashion, with the Uchiha growing steadily angrier.

By this time, several of the students were chuckling or snickering at the ease with which Nadare was taking down the so-called 'genius', which of course only served to fuel Sasuke's anger. As the raven-haired boy slowly stood up, he subtly moved his hand closer to his kunai holster. Suddenly he spun towards Nadare while flinging a kunai at the white-haired boy. It was all for naught though since Nadare caught the knife at the hilt.

The white-haired boy narrowed his eyes at Sasuke as he asked, "Resorting to weapons are we Uchiha-san? I was under the impression these spars were supposed to be Taijutsu only."

Sasuke scowled as he said, "Iruka never said that weapons we couldn't use weapons, only Ninjutsu or Genjutsu."

"Really?" Nadare looked over at the head chunin and asked, "Since Uchiha-san is using his weapons may I be permitted to use mine?"

The head chunin seemed to think on it before she nodded and said, "Sure, why not?" She then looked over the other students as she warned, "But this is only because number two used his weapon first, no other fight from this point on will include weapons."

Nadare smirked before he dropped the kunai, extended both of his hands to where his katana were resting, and focused for a minute. The holster for his blades started vibrating before both swords flew out of their sheaths and into his hands. Nadare shifted into a ready stance as Sasuke seethed in jealousy while a couple students stared in awe.

"Shall we continue?" The white-haired boy asked.

Without waiting for an answer, Nadare rushed forward and began slicing at the Uchiha. Even though he was going half his maximum speed Sasuke was still hard pressed to dodge. Soon, the Uchiha began receiving little nicks in his clothing and small scratches on his skin. Barely a minute after using his twin katana, Nadare knocked Sasuke to the ground and held his blades at the boy's throat.

"Good job number one. The fight is over now," The head chunin said.

Nadare removed his blades from Sasuke's throat, walked back to where his holster was before he sheathed his blades, and reattached the holster. Sasuke was contemplating attacking the white-haired boy while his back was turned towards him when he felt a stern grip on his shoulder and looked up to see Iruka sternly looking down at him.

"The fight is over," Was all he said as he guided Sasuke back to where the rest of their class stood.

-- (After the rest of the fights) --

The head chunin finished writing a couple extra notes on the clipboards before she handed them back to their respective owners as she said, "Alright, head back to your classrooms and finish the exam. I've seen a lot of talent here and I hope some of you become genin so that you can broaden that talent. Good luck to all of you." With that, she formed a half-ram hand seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The classes then began filing back into the Academy, except for Naruto and Hinata who lagged behind a little so they wouldn't be overheard.

"What did you want to ask me Naruto-kun?" The midnight-blue haired girl softly as well as shyly asked.

Naruto opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it before taking a breath in order to steel his nerves and asked in a rush, "Wouldyouliketogooutonadatewithme?"

Hinata, despite her shyness, giggled lightly and asked, "Could you try that again more slowly Naruto-kun?"

Naruto breathed in then out and gulped nervously before he tried again. "I was wondering… Would you like to go out on a (gulp) date with me?"

Hinata froze in mid-step as a bright red blush spread over her cheeks while her mind kept repeating three words over and over: 'date with me'. Naruto waited patiently for the girl's mind to reboot and was rewarded with the brightest smile he had ever seen the shy girl give as she nodded.

Naruto smiled back as he said, "Awesome. So… uh," An idea came to his head and he acted on it, "I'll pick you up at six tomorrow. Dress for a picnic."

"Okay. Where are we going?" Hinata asked in her usual gentle tone.

Naruto smirked playfully and winked as he said, "That's a surprise. Trust me; the wait will be worth it."

Before Hinata could say anything in reply to that the two arrived at their classroom. Thankfully the others had only been in the room for a minute or two, so the two didn't receive many suspicious looks as they sat down.

"Alright," Iruka said to quiet down the chattering of his students. "I'm going to call you down one at a time and you're going to perform the Henge no Jutsu as well as the Kawimari no Jutsu. Once everyone has gone you'll be called into the other room where Mizuki and I will be waiting, once in there you're to perform the Bushin no Jutsu."

He looked around at his students as he spoke, noting which ones were and weren't nervous. The scarred teacher was surprised when he saw that the normally shy and timid Hyuuga heiress was sporting a look of complete confidence in her self.

One by one the students came up to perform the two specified jutsus. Some did well, bad, and, a small number, great. As usual, all the fan girls squealed and swooned when Sasuke went up and performed both jutsu, although Iruka's trained eyes caught a few big mistakes in the henge the Uchiha had chosen.

Naruto had a certain gleam in his eyes as he walked up to the front. Once there he performed the Henge no Jutsu, transforming himself into Uchiha Sasuke. However, on the back of the shirt was the following anagram:

I am an

**U**pset

**C**hicken-

**H**aired

**I**nsignificant

**H**ard

**A**ss**.**

Before any of the students could say anything though, Naruto dispersed the henge and performed the Kawimari no Jutsu, switching himself with Iruka (which of course made Sasuke seethe in jealousy in addition to the anger he was feeling).

Soon it came time for them to go into the side room and attempt to pass the exam. The students were dismissed out of a different door so the students still in the room didn't know who passed and who didn't.

When Naruto heard his name called, he confidently walked to the side room. As soon as he walked through the door, he began to feel a tingling sensation all over his body. The blonde recognized these tingles as a sign of a Genjutsu being placed on his body and grit his teeth in frustration. Naruto knew he could easily dispel the Genjutsu, but the strength he always inadvertently put into the dispel technique would also temporarily short out his henge seal.

"When you're ready Naruto," Iruka prompted.

Naruto brusquely nodded and place his hands in the ram hand seal before he tired to gather as little of his chakra as possible.

"Ninpou: Bushin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted. As he did, he immediately felt his chakra spike and knew what was going to happen…

-- (End Chapter) --

**Unknown-nin345: I have a confession make…when I first typed up this chapter it was 18 pages long. Since I didn't think you would be able to last for 18 pages of typed words, I decided to slash this chapter in half and make the other half chapter 3. So, yay! Two chapters for the price of one. Credit for the U.C.H.I.H.A. anagram belongs to Maverick9817 and his PHEONIX fanfic.**

**COWABUNGA!!!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Unknown-nin345: Alright, here's the third chapter for The Tale of Four Brothers. The reason for the last chapter ending when it did was because when I first typed it up, Chapter 2 was 18 pages long! So, I split it in half and here we are.**

**July 5, 2009: hey there, this is a reposted Chapter 3 after I got a bunch of reviews telling me that I shouldn't have given Denkou the Hiraishin no Jutsu, so I decided to change the technique description to something else. The description is below.**

**Summary: Four brothers, all cursed by what they hold. They grow & learn to be one with the shadows, but now their father & mentor decides the four should step into the light & show the world what they can do…**

Disclaimer: I don't own any names/abilities/clothing/quotes/weapons/jutsus/bloodline limits from any other manga/anime/cartoon/book/video game/movie/fanfiction.

"_Ninpou: Bushin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted. As he did, he immediately felt his chakra spike and knew what was going to happen..._

A poof of smoke appeared at Naruto's right, which soon dispersed to reveal an extremely pale looking Naruto that looked like he would be blown away in the slightest breeze.

Iruka bore a sad face as he said, "I'm sorry Naruto, but that Bushin will do you absolutely no good at all. I'm sorry to say this, but even with your impressive Taijutsu score… you fail."

Naruto hung his head sadly while Mizuki said, "Ah come on Iruka, maybe he just needs a bit more practice with the technique. From what you mentioned about his Taijutsu it'd be a shame to let his potential go to waste. Why not let him pass?"  
Iruka shook his head. "That's not possible Mizuki. A shinobi that isn't capable of fighting at 100 percent is a liability to his or her team," He said. The scarred teacher looked back at the blonde and said apologetically, "Better luck next year Naruto."

The blonde just nodded as he exited the room, then the academy, and stopped to sit underneath one of the trees in the Academy courtyard with his eyes closed in order to ignore the crowd of students who were with their parents. Yet even as far away as he was, he could still hear some of the whispers of the adults.

"Look, it's _him_."

"It's a good thing he didn't pass."

"Yeah, I still can't believe Hokage-sama was going to let that de--"

"Shh. You know the law! Do you want to get killed?"

With that, the adults went back to ignoring Naruto, which suited the blonde just fine. Since he was no longer being distracted by the villagers, he tired to figure out Mizuki's strange actions.

"Naruto-kun?" A gentle female voice asked.

Naruto looked up and saw Hinata standing in front of him. He smiled when he noticed the hitai-ate hanging around her neck and nodded as he said, "Congratulations on passing Hinata. You're a genin now."

Hinata fingered the hitai-ate as she answered, "Yeah, but why didn't you pass?"

The blonde simply shrugged. "I thought I could do a technique but I couldn't." He sighed before continuing, "Are you sure you still want to go through with our date? I mean, I'm just clumsy fool who couldn't even make a simple bushin after all."

Hinata smiled gently and said, "Maybe so, but I agreed to the date because I like you for who you are, not for what you've done." Then, on an impulse, she leaned down to Naruto's face and pecked the stunned blonde on his whiskered cheek. "I'll expect you at six, okay?" She whispered. The blonde nodded slowly in answer.

Hinata smiled and began to walk away. Still acting on that impulse, she began to sway her curvy hips as she walked. When she looked back, she coyly smirked at the slightly gaping blonde.

It was only when the midnight-blue haired girl was back in her room that her mind fully registered what she had just done. Hinata blushed neon red before she fainted on to her bed with steam pouring out of her ears.

Back with Naruto, the blonde was staring at the spot where Hinata had just been before he raised a hand to his cheek as he whispered, "Woah. Never would've expected that."

"Hey Naruto!" A man's voice shouted.

Naruto looked over at the owner of the voice and saw Mizuki standing around the corner of the Academy. The pale-blue haired teacher was gesturing for the blonde to come over to where he was standing urgently. Naruto stood and made his way over, his cheek still slightly tingling from the kiss Hinata had given him.

When he reached the chunin, Naruto asked, "What's up Mizuki-sensei?"

"Well, first I wanted to say that I'm sorry you didn't pass Naruto. You do know Iruka's just looking out for all of his students' right? He'd be torn up and blame himself if one of you guys died while on a mission," Mizuki said to the blonde.

Naruto shrugged and said, "Yeah, I know. It's no big deal really; it just means I'll have to try again next year."

Mizuki leaned a little closer and asked in a low voice, "What would you say if I told you there was another way for you to become a genin?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and asked skeptically, "Really?" Mentally, he located his brothers' chakra signatures and found the three of them hiding in separate trees.

Mizuki nodded seriously. "Yep. Iruka didn't want to tell you because he was afraid of getting your hopes up in case you failed. I think you'll succeed though, so I came here to tell you about it."

"Just what is it I'm supposed to do?" Naruto asked.

"There's a scroll in the Hokage's personal library called the Forbidden Scroll of Seals. It's a misnomer though, and if you can learn a jutsu from it you'll become a genin." Mizuki told the young shinobi-to-be.

Naruto nodded and said, "Alright Mizuki-sensei, I'll do it."

Mizuki clapped a hand on the blondes shoulder and said, "Good luck." He walked away, happy in the thought that his plan was coming to fruition.

When he was sure the chunin was gone, Naruto waved at the trees and his brothers dropped down before they walked over to him (the blonde noticed that all three had their own hitai-ates, each tied around their right biceps).

"So what do you guys think?" Naruto asked as the four as they all gathered in a huddle.

"Definitely fishy," Denkou said as he scratched his head. "Why didn't you pass the exam?"

"Someone, I think Mizuki-teme, put a Genjutsu on me that screwed my chakra control to hell," Naruto said.

"Should we let the Hokage know about all of this?" Kaen asked.

"No," Nadare said. The other three turned to the unofficial leader of the four, who had his eyes closed in thought as he continued, "At least not right now. I think Naruto should go through with what Mizuki told him to do." He opened his eyes and looked at Naruto before continuing, "Go to the Hokage Tower and steal the scroll, but try not to get caught until you're about to leave. Try to somehow get a note to Hokage-sama that'll let him know why you took the scroll. In it though, tell him not to mention it was you who took the scroll as well as Mizuki being the one who told you to take it. The three of us will be waiting in that clearing in the forest that has that metal shack. Head there and we'll figure out what to do next."

The other three nodded and Naruto said, "I'll need some stuff from the Den if I'm going to get this done. Once night starts to fall you should head out to the shack, I won't take long."  
The four bumped fists together before they went their separate ways to prepare for what would happen later that night.

-- (Just after dusk) --

Naruto stood at the bottom of the Hokage Tower, looking up at it and judging the distance to ventilator that he was pretty sure would lead to the library. After a couple minutes of study he nodded to himself before he pulled out his i-pod and selected the theme song to a movie called 'Mission: Impossible'. He pressed play and began attaching climbing claws to his hands and feet. Once he was done he started ascending the wall of the tower.

When he was halfway up he muttered, "Is this what they mean by 'getting totally vertical'?" He chuckled softly to distract himself from his sore arms and legs.

Soon he reached the ventilation shaft and slid it open before pulling his body into the small space. Once in, he began to belly crawl through the metal shaft.

After a couple minutes of crawling he finally arrived at the grate that led down to the library. With a soft grunt he pushed the grate open before he swung himself down into the room.

The blonde looked around before he saw a large scroll resting on a pedestal against one of the walls. Above it was a plaque that read: 'Here rests the Forbidden Scroll of Seals'. Naruto sweat dropped when he read the plaque.

The blonde attached the scroll to his back and quietly made his way to the Hokage's office. However, his plan was dashed when Sarutobi Hiruzen walked around the corner and blinked in surprise when he saw the blonde.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" He asked the sneaking boy.

Naruto's mind went a mile-a-second before it stopped on a particular course of action that made the blonde think, _'Sorry about this Jii-san.'_

He formed a hand seal and shouted, "Oiroke no Jutsu!"

The blonde boy was replaced by a nude beautiful blonde bombshell with absolutely perfect bodily proportions and two wispy clouds covering her pink nipples as well as her vagina.

"Please let me go Hokage-kun." The voluptuous blonde sultrily whispered. The old man's mind overloaded and he rocketed back because of a giant nosebleed.

Naruto released his jutsu and shuddered a little at what he just did. He then moved over to the Hokage and dropped the note onto the old man's chest. The blonde then left the tower and quickly made his way to the shack.

Back with the Hokage; Sarutobi quickly woke up and upon reading the note summoned all the chunins and some of the jounins that were in the village. As it had been suggested in the note, he told the gathered shinobi that an academy student had been tricked into stealing the Forbidden Scroll. The Fire-shadow instructed them to spread out and search for the academy student, but to not harm him or her. The shinobi spread out, each wondering who could've stolen the scroll.

News of the trouble even reached the Hyuuga compound. In her room, Hinata heard the messenger deliver the news to her father who had been walking down the hallway outside her room at that time. The young girl's mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusion to her; Naruto had taken it. She waited until her father had walked further away before she slipped out of her room through her window.

Meanwhile, Iruka was speeding over the rooftops of Konoha. Mizuki had arrived at his door a couple minutes ago, claiming that Naruto had stolen the Forbidden scroll. Although Iruka had wanted to ask Mizuki how he had come to that conclusion, he felt there wasn't any time when he saw other shinobi leaping over the roof tops. So now he was rushing to help the boy he recently came to see as a little brother, unaware of the shadowy figure following behind him.

-- (Back with the Brothers) --

Naruto arrived at the small clearing where the metal shack was and upon not seeing any of his brothers, whistled a specific tune that the four had agreed on would be their 'It's me, not an imposter' signal. The other three dropped out of the trees they had been hiding in and walked over to Naruto.

"Did everything go alright?" Nadare asked.

"Yeah, it was a slice of pizza." Naruto answered. He took the scroll off his back and said, "Hey guys, on my way over here, I was thinking that maybe we could copy down a few of the jutsus in here while we wait." He noticed the looks coming from his brothers and defended himself, "Hey, the only reason some of these jutsus are forbidden in the first place is because of the high amount of chakra they require in order to perform them. Because of who we are, we should be able to use those jutsus easily."

"Well, he's got a point there." Denkou admitted and continued, "Most forbidden jutsus are that way because they need a lot of chakra in order to be used properly. But, there are also others that require near perfect control over your chakra also." He scratched his head and turned to Nadare and Kaen. "I'm finding myself agreeing with Naruto, after all its not like we're going to give these jutsus away, just learn how to do them. When we're done, we can burn the copy so no one else gets their hands on it."

Nadare looked over at Kaen and asked, "What do you think?"

Kaen just shrugged as he said, "I don't really care. Way I see it, we either copy some of the jutsus in the scroll which'll add some powerful stuff to our arsenal or we don't and we lose this chance unless one of us becomes Hokage."

Nadare sighed and said, "Alright. We'll copy some of the jutsus, but be careful which ones you choose. Make sure you read each description carefully so that you know what it'll do."

Naruto smiled and rolled out the scroll before the four of them. As one they all took out smaller scrolls and looked for jutsus in the writing that would be useful to them, occasionally bringing one of the others attention to a jutsu that might be better suited for them.

When they had all finished they compared lists to see who picked what.

Naruto's List:

-Kage Bushin no Jutsu

-Kage Bushin Daibakuha

-Kage Shuriken no Jutsu

-Taijuu Kage Bushin no Jutsu

-Rasengan (The blonde had almost fainted when he saw this jutsu)

-Katon: Enkou Taka no Jutsu

-Katon: Dai Karyuu Endan no Jutsu

-Katon: Supinhitate no Jutsu

Naruto also found another one of interest and wrote it down in a separate scroll.

Denkou's list:

-Raiton: Raikou Yoroi no Jutsu

-Raiton: Sanzen Raikouyari no Jutsu

-Chiyuuton: Jinsoku Isshin no Jutsu

-Raiton: Hiraishin no Jutsu

Kaen's list:

-Suiton: Naruto no Jutsu (Naruto laughed when he saw that he had the same name as a jutsu)

-Suiton: Dai Suiryuudan no Jutsu

-Suiton: Mizu Kassou no Jutsu

-Suiton: Taijuu Suiryuudan no Jutsu

Nadare's list:

-Hyoton: Ookami Nadare no Jutsu (The white haired boy felt this was extremely appropriate, given who and what he was)

-Hyoton: Fubuki no Jutsu

-Kenjutsu: Taijuu Mikazuki no Mai

-Kenjutsu: Yuurei Tsurugi

-Kenjutsu: Chakra Kire

-Kenjutsu: Yaiba Shinten

**(A/n: I'll provide a list of the Jutsu's translations and descriptions down in the final authors note.)**

Once they were done comparing they rolled the scroll back up and Naruto reattached it to his back. Nadare, Denkou, and Kaen then hid once more, this time under one of Nadare's extremely advanced Genjutsu. The blonde then decided to do a little practicing with Kage Bushin no Jutsu.

When he did the proper hand seals and called out the Jutsu's name, he (along with his brothers) was shocked when all the trees along the perimeter of the clearing were filled with clones of him. The blonde then dispersed them and was rewarded with a small headache as the memories of all the clones came rushing back to him.

"Geez that hurt worse than the scroll had said it would." Naruto mumbled to himself as he rubbed his forehead. The blonde then started practicing on calling out a smaller number of clones before dispersing them and calling forth an even smaller number than before. A while later; Naruto had just dispersed his smallest batch of clones when Iruka landed in the clearing, worry and anger fighting for dominance of his facial features.

Naruto looked over at him and waved lightly, "Oh hey Iruka-sensei, what's up?"

"What's up?!" Iruka shouted as he walked over and poked Naruto's forehead before continuing, "What's up, is that the whole village is looking for you because you stole the Forbidden Scroll of Seals!"

Naruto rubbed his forehead and asked a little confused, "Did Jii-san tell you all it was me?"

"No, it was Mizuki who told me," Iruka said while shaking his head.

Suddenly, a gigantic shuriken whirled into the clearing. Both Naruto and Iruka easily dodged it though which led to the shuriken getting stuck in the wall of the metal shack, unfortunately that was where the other three had been standing and they were all forced to hit the deck in order to keep their heads. Both of the dodgers looked around to see who had thrown the metal star and spotted Mizuki crouched in one of the trees, another giant shuriken attached to his back.

"Mizuki! What the heck are you doing?" Iruka shouted at his supposed friend.

"Following you so I could find this idiot," Mizuki simply said. "I still can't believe how easy it was to get him to steal the scroll." The pale-blue haired man chuckled manically here.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and said, "Do you really think that I believed you? I knew if I went to anyone without proof I wouldn't get anywhere, so I decided to go through with this so that nobody could disprove what I said."

Mizuki seethed in anger before he pointed a finger at Naruto and shouted, "Someone like you doesn't deserve to even lay a finger on an object that contains as much power as the Forbidden scroll does, and to prove it to you I'm going to tell you the truth!"

"What truth?" Naruto asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion at what the man was getting at.

Iruka seemed to figure out as well since he shouted, "No Mizuki, don't!"

Mizuki ignored the scarred as he continued, "You know how the Kyuubi attacked fourteen years ago right?" Naruto nods and Mizuki smirked as he amicably said, "Well, it wasn't killed like the textbooks said. Instead, the Yondaime sealed it…into you. You are the Nine-tailed Fox that killed Iruka's parents and so many other people!"

There was absolute silence in the clearing; even the world seemed to hold its breath as it waited for Naruto's response; off in the forest, two eyes widened in surprise and shock.

A snort escaped past Naruto's lips, then a chuckle. The blonde stopped and took a deep breath to calm down; only to double over laughing, over under the Genjutsu the other brothers were chuckling as well. Both Iruka and Mizuki were giving the laughing blonde a look that clearly said they thought he'd gone insane.

Naruto did calm down after a minute of laughing and straightened up, wiping tears from his eyes, and said, "Wow, and I thought blondes were supposed to be the dumb ones. You just blew that stereotype way out of the ballpark there dude." Noticing Mizuki's look the blonde said, "Oh, you're serious. How about a quick question then: if you seal a kunai into a scroll, does that make the scroll a kunai?"

"Of course not! Just where are you going with this demon?" Mizuki angrily asked.

"Well, if you follow that logic, since you said the Kyuubi was sealed into me then how can I be the Kyuubi?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

Mizuki looked like he was trying to figure out a way around that question before he scowled and said, "You're tricks won't work on me Kyuubi. Orochimaru-sama warned me you might try something like that."

Naruto's whole body posture froze except for his head, which he lowered so that his eyes were shadowed, as a rush of calm anger overtook him. Nearly unnoticed by everyone else, the white strips covering his eyes began to dimly glow red as he asked, "Who warned you?"

Mizuki smirked and boasted, "Orochimaru-sama of the Sannin. He promised me great power if I brought him the Forbidden Scroll of Seals."

"Sou ka. Iruka-sensei," The scarred teacher looked over at the blonde. "Please don't tell anyone about what you're about to see." The stunned teacher could only nod in response to Naruto's request. Naruto smirked and moved his hand over to a specific spot on his left arm, a second later his henge seal appeared which Naruto immediately grabbed and stashed in his pocket.

"Tell me Mizuki; are you afraid of demons?" Naruto asked as his true self was revealed, in the forest the owner of the eyes watching the scene gasped. The blonde did a quick hand gesture and Nadare laid a Genjutsu on Mizuki that blinded the traitorous chunin and released the one hiding the three of them. The pale-blue haired man looked around fearfully before he tore the giant shuriken off his back and let it fly at where he remembered Iruka and Naruto to be. However, since he couldn't see, he completely missed.

Naruto smirked as he quickly ran forward and up the tree before he dropkicked Mizuki straight out of the tree. While the chunin fell to the ground, the three other brothers rushed forward past the stunned Iruka, each drawing their own weapon. As one they all leapt toward the traitor and proceeded to beat the tar out of him.

When the four stepped back a bloody and bruised Mizuki lay there curled in the fetal position since one of the brothers either had kicked him or bashed him with their weapon in his family jewels. Naruto nodded in satisfaction before he spat on the slightly twitching body.

Naruto turned back to the still-as-stone Iruka and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Heh, hiya Iruka-sensei. You finally get to see my true self." He said, chuckling at the end.

"Naruto, what--" Was all that Iruka could get out.

Naruto waved his hands at his sensei and said, "You don't need to worry Iruka-sensei. Fuzzbut isn't in any danger of breaking out. According to Jii-san, I was exposed to a lot of youkai during the sealing and some of it worked its way into my chakra core and well, here I am. I got fox ears, a fox tail, fox-like eyes, and senses to match in exchange for having a normal childhood." He smiled bitterly as he said, "I'm still trying to figure out whether or not I got the short end of the stick. Anywho, these are my brothers in all but us sharing the same birth parents; Nadare, Kaen, and Denkou."

Iruka was silent for a minute before he said, "Close your eyes Naruto." When he saw that the blonde was about to say something he shouted, "Just do it!"

"Okay, okay, geez." Naruto closed his eyes, muttering about overbearing teachers who needed to learn to chill. Iruka chuckled as he walked over to the muttering blonde. The scarred teacher then untied his hitai-ate before he wrapped it around Naruto's forehead.

"Alright Naruto, you can open your eyes." Iruka told the blonde.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Iruka, noticing that something seemed about the teacher but unable to put his finger on it, before he asked, "Hey Iruka-sensei did you get a haircut?" The scarred teacher face faulted, as did the three brothers and the owner of the eyes in the forest.

Iruka launched back up to his feet and said, "No you baka. Feel your forehead."

Naruto reached a hand up to the specified spot and felt the cool metal of the Konoha hitai-ate. His finger slowly traced the leaf symbol on it as a small smile grew on his face.

He looked back up at Iruka and asked, "But what about you? Don't you need one of these?"

Iruka waved a hand in dismissal, "Bah, don't worry about that. Chunins and jounins sometimes lose their hitai-ates on a mission so each of us is given a couple spares."

Naruto smiled and once again touched the metal on his forehead as he said, "Thanks sensei."

The scarred teacher nodded as he walked over to his former friend before he shouldered the still-twitching man and turned to Naruto. "Head on home Naruto, I'll take care of Mizuki and the Forbidden Scroll," He said to the blonde. Naruto nodded and handed him the scroll as Iruka said, "And I'll expect you to be at the Academy at the end of the week for team assignments."

"Sure thing Iruka-sensei, see you later." Naruto replied. Iruka nodded before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Once the scarred teacher had left the four brothers gathered together and did a four-way high-five, even as the henge seals for the other three ran out of power.

As one they silently left the clearing to head back to the Den, unaware that their secret had been revealed…

**Unknown-nin345: Well that's the end of chapter 2 of ToFB. The secret's out, I'll leave it to you to guess who the owner of the eyes was. Just to let you all know, the description for Kage Bushin in the Forbidden Scroll included the thing about the clones having their own memories which get transferred to the user of the jutsu.**

**Now, onto the Jutsu translations/descriptions (I'll leave out the ones you ****should**** know):**

-Katon: Enkou Taka no Jutsu = Fire Release: Flame Falcon Technique.

Description: The user spits out a fireball in the shape of a falcon that will launch forward at high speeds. The more chakra put into the technique will increase the speed of the falcon and if the user doesn't move, he can control where the falcon will fly.

-Katon: Dai Karyuu Endan no Jutsu = Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Missile Technique.

Description: A larger version of Katon: Karyuu Endan. Also, at the cost of power and size, the dragon can split into two dragons that can move faster.

-Katon: Supin Hi Tate no Jutsu = Fire Release: Spinning Fire Shield Technique.

Description: The user summons a spinning shield of fire that will drain chakra very quickly. Warning: should not be used for a long amount of time or in a forest; there is a high probability that the flames will grow beyond control.

-Raiton: Raikou Yoroi no Jutsu = Lighting Release: Lightning armor Technique.

Description: The user summons a small thunder cloud that will strike him/her and cover him/her with armor of lightning that, depending on the chakra put into the technique, will shock any person who comes within a foot of the user. Dangerous to use near water and allies.

-Raiton: Sanzen Raikouyari no Jutsu = Lightning Release: Many Lightning Spears Technique.

Description: The user covers his hands in large spheres of lightning that can launch spears of lightning. The number of spears and intensity of the lightning depend on the amount of chakra put into the jutsu.

-Chiyuuton: Jinsoku Isshin no Jutsu = Healing Release: Rapid Regeneration Technique.

Description: Similar to that seal thing used by Shizune in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc on Neji, except the user doesn't need a medium and the user can do it alone. Costs a high amount of chakra and the user needs to be completely focused on the wound or the jutsu will fail.

-Ration: Hiraishin no Jutsu = Lighting Release: Lightning Rod Technique.

Description: The user calls down a bolt of pure lighting on an opponent. *Notice: the target must have multiple metal weapons stabbed into their body.

-Suiton: Naruto no Jutsu = Water Release: Maelstrom Technique.

Description: The user calls forth a heavy downpour of freezing rain that extremely decreases visibility and makes it easier to use Suiton techniques. If used over a large lake or sea/ocean a whirlpool can be created in addition to the rain.

-Suiton: Dai Suiryuudan no Jutsu = Water Release: Great Water Dragon Missile Technique.

Description: Same thing as the Dai Karyuu Endan, except with water.

-Suiton: Mizu Kassou no Jutsu = Water Release: Water Glide Technique.

Description: Covers the user's feet in a sphere of water that then shoots out a high-powered jet of water which allows the user to 'glide' over ground or other bodies of water (What that one girl did in the fourth Naruto movie).

-Suiton: Taijuu Suiryuudan no Jutsu = Water Release: Multi Water Dragon Technique.

Description: Creates a large globe of water behind the user, which then launches out Water Dragons half the size of the normal Suiryuudan to bombard an intended area (I read in a fanfic that another author has created a technique with a similar name. If you (the original creator) find this similar to your technique, I apologize since I can honestly type that I have not yet read your fanfic).

-Hyoton: Fubuki no Jutsu = Ice Release: Snowstorm Technique.

Description: Simple really; the technique creates a blinding snow storm.

-Kenjutsu: Taijuu Mikazuki no Mai = Sword Technique: Multi Dance of the Crescent Moon.

Description: User creates more than two clones that attack in waves or all at once. The clones used are Kage Bushins, so they can actually do damage (unlike Hayate's Mikazuki no Mai).

-Kenjutsu: Yuurei Tsurugi = Sword Technique: Ghost Sword.

Description: User creates illusionary life-like copies of his/her sword(s) that are used to confuse and distract the opponent since mirages of the user appear at each sword copy in a sequence. The amount of chakra determines the number of 'ghosts' as well as the solidity of the illusions.

-Kenjutsu: Chakra Kire = Sword Technique: Chakra Slice.

Description: The user gathers a large amount of chakra into his/her sword before releasing it in a wide swing. The technique can only be performed if the user is standing completely still, if the user moves the technique will be disrupted and fail.

-Kenjutsu: Yaiba Shinten = Sword Technique: Blade Extension.

Description: The user pumps his/her sword full of chakra, which will extend the metal of the blade. This is extremely difficult to do.

**Now, don't go thinking that just because they have all these jutsu they're going to become all-powerful. These are KINJUTSU ****(Forbidden Techniques for those who aren't well versed in Japanese)**** after all which means the brothers won't be able to learn all of them within a day.**

**They're going to go slow with them and make sure they can use each one properly before moving onto the next. The only ones the four are going to, somewhat, use in excess are the Kage jutsus since those are the ones that won't really affect their chakra stores (C'mon, in his fight against Shukaku/Garra we all saw Naruto churn out more than a thousand at one point and he didn't collapse until he then went and summoned Gamabunta, the toad boss. Even then, he managed to pull off a combo henge that he held for a little under five minutes. So don't tell me otherwise because I'll just ignore you).**

**This is Unknown-nin345; I'm going to bed now.**

**COWABUNGA!!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4  
****Unknown-nin345: Hello and thank you for sticking with the story so far.**

**And just I don't get asked who has what element here you go: Nadare=Ice/Snow; Kaen=Water; Naruto=Fire; Denkou=Lightning.**

**Sorry it took so long to get this posted; it was a combination of getting acclimated to my new school, studying hard for the mid-terms followed by my SATs, and discovering my newest video game addiction: Guitar Hero-World Tour & Metallica (even though I'm stuck on medium for both games).**

Summary: Four brothers, all cursed by what they hold. They grow & learn to be one with the shadows, but now their father & mentor decides the four should step into the light & show the world what they can do…

**Disclaimer: I don't own any names/abilities/clothing/quotes/weapons/jutsus/bloodline limits from any other manga/anime/cartoon/book/video game/movie/fanfiction aside from those I made up. If you can't tell what it is that I made up.... then go read a book.**

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

The brothers were in high spirits as they made their way through the twisting and turning maze of tunnels beneath the sewers. Beating up a jackass who fervently hated what you were could put anyone in a good mood.

"We were awesome bros," Denkou cheered.

"Oh, yes dudes and dudettes, major league butt-kicking is back in town!" Naruto announced with his arms raised.

Nadare leaped around a corner and shouted, "Awesome!"

Naruto came up, laughing, and clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder as he said, "Righteous."

"Bossa nova!"

Nadare and Naruto paused and turned to look back at Denkou before they asked together, "Bossa nova?"

Denkou shrugged as he suggested, "Chevy nova?" When the two looked at each other in exasperation, the brunette tapped his clawed fingers in thought before he did an arm pump and shouted, "Excellent!" The other two gave approving shouts and high-fived Denkou before moving on.

"C'mon, let's move it. I'm starving," Naruto said. "We're talking major pizza-crave here dudes."

"Ooh pizza, I need it!" Denkou agreed.

Behind the three, Kaen followed quietly. He was trying to discern the feeling that had been nagging at the back of his head since the four of them had left the clearing. It was like that feeling one gets when they've forgotten something important and its hovering right beyond your grasp. So while his brothers were able to cheer and celebrate amongst themselves, Kaen pondered over the feeling that he was missing something.

Soon, the four came to the entrance to the Den. As he watched his brothers enter, Kaen turned back to where they had just come from as if seeking an answer from the stone wall.

Overcome by his frustrations, the boy muttered a soft, "Damn," before entering the Den. Nadare shushed the others as they entered the Den. The four quickly spotted Splinter, who was sitting on a meditation mat, and made their way over to him.

Nadare knelt down before Splinter and excitedly said, "We have had our first battle, Master Splinter. We disable our foe's abilities and kicked--" He paused before he calmed down and finished, "We fought well." Naruto and Denkou nodded their agreement.

"Were you seen?" Splinter asked, referring to their true forms. Kaen was the only one who didn't shake his head since he was still trying to figure out the bad feeling he had. **(A/N: They're not counting Iruka because he saw them before they changed)**

"In that, you must never lapse. Even those who would be our allies would be hard-pressed to fully understand. As shinobi, your domain is the shadow. Stray from it reluctantly for when you do, you must strike hard and fast, then fade away without a trace." He looked over the ones he called his sons as he said, "I am proud that all four of you are now one step closer to being genins, however, I wish to know what occurred tonight. The Hokage sent me a missive that stated Naruto had stolen an important scroll and I would like to hear the full tale."

Naruto took the lead in telling Splinter about what had occurred since his final exam, leaving out that he had a date with Hinata the next day. When he finished relaying the events of the night, Splinter closed his eyes in thought.

"Truly, the events that occurred tonight provide some cause for concern. Many questions arise from these events, several without answers. However, there is one question that I feel can be answered right now." Splinter opened his eyes and looked at Naruto before he asked, "Why did the mention of Orochimaru fill you with such anger my son?"

Naruto was silent for a moment as he clenched a fist and looked off to the side. "Lately, I've been having these odd dreams," The blonde began. "I didn't know why I was even having them until in one of the dreams I looked down into a puddle and saw a fox's face looking back at me." He looked back at the others and dropped the bombshell, "I think I was seeing Kyuubi's memories."

"That's all well and good, but what does it have to do with Orochimaru?" Kaen asked.

Naruto sighed and looked down at the stone floor before he continued, "In one of the memories, I'm walking through a forest when I heard yips and cries of pain. I started running towards the owners of the cries and I suddenly came up on this clearing. In the center of the clearing were these two fox kits, thrashing and flailing about on their backs with odd black markings spreading over their fur. Standing over them was Orochimaru, who was so intently studying the kits that he didn't notice me, and I dimly heard him mutter, 'I guess it doesn't work on animals after all, such a pity.' After he said that I could literally feel my blood boil and I rushed at Orochimaru. The pale bastard finally noticed I was there and promptly fled the clearing before I could get him. I was just about to chase him down when the two kits called out to me. They-"

Naruto paused as tears welled in his sapphire eyes before his next sentence came out as a whisper, "They begged me to kill them. They wanted the pain to end so much and when I looked down at them, I could feel their pain." Naruto looked back up at the four stunned listeners as he continued, "The Kyuubi was hurt greatly when it did what those two kits asked. After that, I could only remember anger…and the symbol on Orochimaru's hitai-ate: the symbol of Konohagakure."

The five of them fell silent when Naruto finished speaking; Splinter in contemplation while the brothers were trying to stem their rising anger.

"Do not be completely angry at what occurred my sons, especially you Naruto," Splinter said suddenly. Each of the brothers looked at him in disbelief as he continued, "It is true that because of that man's actions you lost your family and had the Kyuubi sealed into you. However, it is also true that because of what he did, I traveled to Konoha and found you, my son. If Orochimaru had never done what he did then you, Naruto, would have never known your brothers as you do now. Would you trade the family and life you have now for one that would be completely unknown to you?" Naruto looked at his brothers; the three he had grown up all of his life with and knew his answer as soon as his eyes met theirs.

When Naruto shook his head, Splinter nodded and closed his eyes as he said, "I suggest we meditate now, on the events of this evening." Because his eyes were closed, Splinter never saw Naruto lean over to Denkou and mouth something to the brunette. The brown-haired boy nodded and quietly rushed over to the stereo.

Splinter had barely started his meditations when an upbeat jazz song **(A/N: The one from the first Turtle's movie in the Den)** began playing throughout the room. His black eyes snapped open and he quickly spotted Naruto and Denkou doing an impromptu dance on the training mat with their tails wrapped around their bodies as belts.

When he noticed Splinter looking over at the two of them, Naruto held out his hands and defensively said, "Well, this is sort of like meditating." Splinter just shook his head.

Nadare, who was bouncing to the music on his meditation mat with his tail wagging to the beat, noticed Kaen throwing on one of his darker trench-coats and asked, "Hey Kaen, where you going?"

"Out to a movie," He answered shortly. Kaen turned to Nadare with a wide-brimmed hat in his hand as he mockingly asked, "That okay with you?"

Nadare held up his hands as he lightly answered to stem off the green-skinned jinchuuriki's ire, "Yeah."

The jinchuuriki of the Sanbi headed for the door, but stopped right as he grabbed the handle and partially turned his head back to his brothers. He smiled lightly when he saw that Naruto, who had leaned a little too far back for one of the dance movements, was on the floor holding his head in pain while cursing every maker of stone in existence amidst laughs from the other two. Kaen shook his head in amusement as he left, hoping to rid himself of his bad feeling.

**(One Hour Later)**

Kaen exited the movie theater and walked a couple steps away before he looked back at it, along with the title, _Critters_, before shaking his head and groaning with disgust.

"Where do they come up with this stuff?" The jinchuuriki of the Sanbi asked to no one.

The silvery light of the moon bathed the quiet streets of Konoha in a luminescent glow as Kaen quietly strode through them. The boy turned his sea-green eyes, his headband having been left back at the Den, up to the shining moon as he kept walking. The four brothers had always liked staring up at the moon, for no other reason than that it was soothing to them and provided them with rare feelings of complete peace.

Because of this though, he didn't notice the female figure coming around the corner until they were both sent crashing to the ground. The two regained their feet and Kaen was able to get a good look at the girl he had bumped into.

She had flaming red hair that came down to her shoulders with a lock or two falling down into her face and a purple beanie resting no top of her head. The red head was wearing a skintight black tanktop underneath an open bright crimson jacket that displayed, yet at the same time, hid her perky B-cup breasts. She had black vinyl pants covering her legs with a golden ringlet-chain belt. Hanging on a small rope from said belt was a shining silver flute.

Kaen was just about to grudgingly apologize when she beat him to the punch, in a different way.

"Watch where you're fucking going you fucking motherfucker!" The redhead shouted.

Kaen blinked in surprise before he shouted back at her, "Well maybe if I weren't blind like a certain bitch, then maybe we wouldn't have ended up on the fucking ground flat chest!"

It was the redhead's turn to blink in surprise. Men usually told her to watch her mouth or just completely ignored her whenever she cursed; this one came out and cursed right back in her face. She smirked in excitement as she thought, _'Finally! A man who can keep up with me.'_

"Who're you calling a flat chest you monkey-shit asshole!" She shouted in a challenging tone.

Kaen raised an eyebrowless-eyebrow, recognizing the challenge and smirked as he responded, "You, ya bitchy cock-juggling thunder-cunt!"

This continued on for another minute or two with the two cussers' respect and admiration growing with each phrase. Soon, the two were out of breath and both silently agreed on a ceasefire to get their second wind. During that pause, a sudden gust of strong wind sprung up out of nowhere and blew both of their hats promptly off their heads.

Kaen stared in amazement at the new additions on the head of the girl before him that had just been concealed by her beanie. A pair of golden jagged horns curved upwards and back on both sides of her head. Likewise with the redhead, Kaen's true form kept her from immediately shouting.

When she finally found her voice she softly asked, "What the hell are you?"

Kaen was silent for a moment for a moment before he asked, "If I tell you about me, will you tell me about you?" When she nodded he cleared his throat and said, "I'm Kajiarashi Kaen, jinchuuriki for the Sanbi no Isonade. When the bijuu was sealed into me, a lot of the youkai entered into my chakra system, and, well… gave me certain physical characteristics of the bijuu I contain." He removed his trenchcoat and combat boots so that the red-haired girl could see some of his more defining traits.

After a moment of silence the girl said, "My name is Yuureiko Tayuya, I'm half-human and half…" She turned her head away from Kaen and finished, "daemon." She closed her eyes as she expected shouts of fear or anger from the turtle-boy in front of her. When she didn't hear anything she tentatively looked back at Kaen, who was simply waiting for her to continue.

Tayuya took a steadying breath as she mentally prepared to tell the boy before her what she had never told anyone else before now, "My mother was a member of a cult that worshipped daemons. One day, she stumbled on an extremely ancient tome that held information on summoning daemons. So she did what the tome described, but she fucked up big time on the pentagram that was supposed to hold the daemon in place. When she summoned it, the daemon immediately broke free of the pentagram and, sensing that my mother was a young virgin, raped her." She clenched her fists as a disgusted grimace spread across her face. "Nine months later I was born, with these fucking horns on my head! When the rest of the cult discovered what had happened they heaped luxuries and praise on my mother, as if getting raped by a daemon was the greatest thing in the whole world to them!"

Tears began collecting in her eyes as she went on, "When I turned ten, my mother told me about how I was 'conceived'. She also told me that throughout it all she felt extreme pleasure from what the daemon did to her, and that the only reason what happened had been labeled as rape was because she was too 'overwhelmed' by the pleasure to do anything back to the daemon! So here I am, stuck like this because that bitch enjoyed being raped!" Silence fell upon the two; Kaen quietly digesting what had been disclosed to him and Tayuya struggling to hold in her tears.

Kaen rubbed the top of his green head and sighed. "I guess we're not so different from each other," he said as his sea-green eyes met her earthy-brown eyes. "I hate my mother too. Before he did the sealing, my biological father explained to my _mother_ that I would not become the Sanbi, only contain it. Yet, after she saw me like you see me now, she tried to kill me. I would have died then and there if I hadn't been saved by the one that I now call my father." He chuckled mirthlessly and asked, "I guess both out mothers were shitty bitches, huh?"

Tayuya shook her head and smirked, even though her eyes still bore tears, as she said, "Worse than that. They give shitty bitches a bad name."

The two shared a small laugh and smiled lightly at each other, seeing a kindred spirit beneath the traits that made them different from everyone else. Kaen retrieved his hat and tossed Tayuya her beanie as he threw his trenchcoat back on.

Tayuya noticed the questioning look Kaen sent her way after she placed her beanie back on her head. "It has a special seal on it that lets my horns be hidden whenever I put it on. It's not like people will just accept me two horns growing at the sides of my fucking head," she explained. Kaen nodded and placed his own hat back on his head. He then looked back at where he had just come from before turning back to Tayuya.

"The second matinee at the theater should be starting soon, want to go catch it?" he asked.

Tayuya raised an eyebrow and asked in return, "As a date?"

Kaen shrugged and said, "If you want it to be."

Tayuya was silent as she thought it over. Truthfully, she was flattered since her mouth or attitude always turned off other guys and for those that it didn't, they never thought of her as dating material.

Finally, a smile quirked her lips as she said, "Fuck it, my first date could have been worse. Let's go!"

Kaen smiled as well and the two made their way to the movie theater where they watched some sappy romance flick. When they exited after the movie had finished, both were laughing their asses off at how stupid they had found it.

After the two of them calmed down, they walked aimlessly as they talked a little bit more about themselves.

Tayuya revealed that she had run away no long after her mother had told her the truth. A couple days later, a traveling merchant found her out cold on the side of the road and adopted her. She went on to (somewhat) sheepishly admit that the source of why she swore so much was because some of the clients she had met with alongside her adopted father were sailors (and we know how bad they can be, no offense meant to any sailors reading this).

Kaen told that he was also adopted and that he had three brothers who were 'similar' to him, but he didn't go into any details aside from their names. He also told her that he had just graduated from the shinobi academy in Konoha and that he would soon be a genin.

Soon, the two came to a small square that had a fountain in its center with a small clock on top of it.

The two sat down on a stone bench and were silent for a minute or two.

"So, are you leaving soon?" Kaen asked.

Tayuya nodded and said, "Yeah, the day after tomorrow."

Kaen nodded as well before he asked, "Will I be able to see you again?"

"Mmhm, Tou-san visits Konoha every three months and this year that puts us right in time for the Chunin Exams," Tayuya informed him. She looked over at the clock and gasped when she saw what time it was, "Fuck!" She stood up, Kaen rising as well, and turned to the green-skinned jinchuuriki as she said, "I got to go. Tou-san's probably worried about me by now."

Kaen nodded but grabbed her arm before she could leave. When she looked back at him he asked, "Do you think you could meet me here tomorrow around noon? There's something I'd like to show you."

Tayuya cocked an eyebrow and asked, "And just how will I know it's you? Are you gonna dress in drag and do the hula?"

"Very funny," Kaen commented dryly. He held out his ring and said, "You'll know it's me because I'll be wearing this openly around my neck.

The redhead was silent as she committed the details of the ring to her memory. When she had finished she looked back up at Kaen with a devious smile and said, "I guess I'll see ya tomorrow…Ka-kun." Tayuya quickly leaned closer and kissed Kaen on his cheek before she took off, her crimson locks bouncing as she ran.

Kaen wasn't even aware that he had raised his fingers to touch the cheek that had just been kissed as he muttered, "Damn."

-- (The Next Day) --

Tayuya fidgeted nervously as she waited in the square wearing similar clothes to the ones she had worn last night except with the colors reversed. This was going to be her second date with a guy she had just met, but at the same time she felt like she had known him all of her life. The redhead chewed her bottom lip in frustration as thoughts careened through her head that she normally wouldn't have given a second thought towards, most importantly the small splash of guilt.

All these thoughts flew from her though when she finally saw the only person who could possibly be Kaen. He was wearing his normal outfit with a red and black bandana covering the top of his head in place of his hitai-ate, his ring proudly hanging around his neck.

Tayuya's eyes trailed slowly over the rippling muscles covering Kaen's torso as she muttered, "Holy fucking shit!" She quickly wiped away the drool that had begun gathering as Kaen drew nearer.

"Morning bitch," Kaen greeted with a smile.

Tayuya smiled back and said, "Morning ya bastard. So, what was it you wanted to show me?"

Kaen winked and said, "It's a surprise. C'mon, let's get going." With that the two started their trek through the streets of Konoha. As the two walked they talked a little more about each other, mostly just their favorites in a variety of categories (food, music, etc.). Soon, the two exited the crowded streets of the city and came to the village's surrounding forest.

After about ten to fifteen minutes of walking through the forest Tayuya turned to Kaen and was about to ask him something when her breath was stolen by the most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her young life.

Before the two lay a small grove with small lake in the middle that was surrounded by all sorts of beautiful flowers and had a small creek flowing out of it. A waterfall cascaded down into the lake and, with the current angle of the sun, created a rainbow that hovered a short distance above the lake. A mist-like foam rose from where the waterfall connected with the lake and carried the colors of the previously mentioned rainbow.

The stunned redhead turned to Kaen and tried several times to say something about the sight before her. She even lifted her arms to gesture at the scene but let them fall when no words accompanied the gesture.

Kaen nodded and smiled knowingly as he said, "Yeah, I had a similar reaction when I first found this place." He kicked off his boots before he strode over to the edge of the water and let the cool liquid lap against his feet. Tayuya did the same with her sandals as Kaen continued speaking, "Whenever I got a lot on my mind and I just want a quiet place to think, I come out here."

"So, how many other girls have you brought out here?" Tayuya teasingly asked.

"You're the first," Kaen replied without any hesitation.

A smile touched the redhead's lips as she said, "Good answer."  
Kaen shrugged and said, "The truth usually is." He sighed peacefully and the two stood in silence for a moment before Kaen continued, "But this isn't all that I wanted to show you." He removed his trenchcoat and threw it back by his boots.

Tayuya looked over when she noticed what he just did, but was speechless for a moment as her eyes took in the up-close sight of Kaen's rock-hard muscular body. She was brought out of her staring by another rustle of clothing and a sudden splash of water. She shook her head and looked over at the smirking boy treading water.

"Come on in, unless you're afraid to get wet Tay-chan!" Kaen shouted at her.

Tayuya softly growled before she stripped out of her jacket, tanktop, and pants until she was left standing in a two-piece white string bikini that left extremely little to Kaen's imagination. Kaen's eyebrows shot up when he noticed the tattoo surrounding her bellybutton (for accurate pic, go here: ) and wolf-whistled as the redhead jumped into the perfect water.

When she reached the sea-green-eyed boy, she splashed him and asked, "Was this just some plot to get to see me in a bikini?"

Kaen splashed her back and said, "Partly. I knew that we'd end up in the water eventually so I was looking forward to right now. Besides you shouldn't be embarrassed, you got a smokin' hot bod."

Tayuya blushed lightly as she said, "Same goes for you stud, except more along the lines of ruggedly ripped. So, now what?"

"Follow me," Kaen said as he began swimming over to the waterfall with Tayuya following. He looked over at her and shouted, "Take a deep breath and follow me!" Before the redhead could say anything, the Jinchuuriki for the Sanbi took a deep breath and dove beneath the water.

Tayuya blew out a frustrated breath before she breathed in deeply and went down below the surface. After her eyes adjusted to being underwater, Tayuya spotted Kaen hovering next to the entrance of an underwater tunnel. The sea-green-eyed boy waited until the brown-eyed girl got closer before he entered the tunnel with Tayuya following behind him.

Just when she thought her lungs were about to burst from the need to breathe, she saw Kaen break the surface and sped up a bit. When she came up, she began breathing in deeply to replenish the needed oxygen. Kaen helped her onto the rocky floor where she laid down and rested as Kaen sat down next to her (his eyes constantly drawn down to her rising and falling chest).

Tayuya cracked her eyes open and smiled when she noticed where Kaen's gaze was. "Pervert," She accused.

Kaen blushed lightly and moved his eyes to hers. "Well, I wouldn't be such a pervert if you weren't so hot," He argued.

The redhead thought on this for a second before she shrugged and agreed, "True."

Both of them stood up and then began walking down the short tunnel. Soon, they came to a dead end.

Tayuya looked over at Kaen with an eyebrow raised and expression that clearly asked: 'This is it?'

Kaen chuckled and placed his hand on a seemingly random spot on the wall. With a grunt he pushed in the spot where his hand was and turned it to the left. With a shudder the wall rose and Tayuya's breath was once again stolen.

A small cavern lay before the two with a small hot spring in the middle of it. This alone wouldn't have been so breathtaking if it hadn't included crystals that jutted out from the walls of the cavern that turned different colors. With each change a small, clear note of varying pitch sounded from each crystal.

Kaen looked over at Tayuya and said, "Whenever everything gets to be too much and I need to get away from everything and just be absolutely alone, I come down here and listen to the crystals."

"It's amazing," The redhead said softly. She looked at Kaen and asked, "Why'd you show me this? We just met after all."

"I can't really explain it," Kaen said with a shrug. He stared into her eyes as he continued, "But, ever since I've gotten to know you, I feel like…well, I don't need to be so alone and by myself. I've never felt this way about anyone before."

Tayuya smiled and said, "Way to be Mr. Romantic."

Kaen smiled back and asked, "Did it work?"

The redhead stepped closer and stood on her tiptoes as she whispered, "Hell yeah," while she closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Kaen's neck before her lips captured his.

The boy's sea-green eyes widened minutely before he closed them and wrapped his arms around the girl kissing him and drew her bikini-clad body in closer to his. While the two were locked in their embrace, the crystals around them changed to a soft shade of blue.

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-- (With Naruto/ Later that day) --

The blonde Jinchuuriki nervously shuffled his feet as he waited outside the Hyuuga clan's main gate for the guard to come back with Hinata. He wasn't nervous about how the guards would react to him coming for Hinata; thankfully the Hyuuga clan never saw him as the Kyuubi thanks to their Byakugan, which allowed them to see that the fox's chakra was mostly separate from his. Instead he was nervous about how the date would go as well as how he looked.

He was wearing black pants that had dual orange stripes running up the side with the hems of his pants being wrapped with shinobi tape that led down to his shinobi-styled sandals. On his torso was a dark orange t-shirt that had a thin black stripe going up the middle of it with an open black vest over it that had a red spiral on the back. Finally, since he wasn't wearing his hitai-ate (or his headband, the orange one), a couple strands of his blonde hair fell down onto his forehead and into his sapphire eyes.

He was brought out of his nervous musings by the sound of the gate opening followed by Hinata's, as always, gentle voice, "Good afternoon Naruto-kun." The blonde looked up at the lavender-eyed girl and if it could have, his jaw would have surely crashed through the ground.

The midnight-blue-haired girl was wearing a button-up black shirt with white swirling designs that gave the blonde a good view of Hinata's cleavage as well as a hint of her firm, toned stomach since she had neglected to button the bottom two buttons. On her sensuous legs were black hip-hugging pants that clung to her curvy hips and legs. Dangling from each ear was a sapphire earring in the shape of a tear and she had on only the tiniest splashes of makeup around her pearl-like eyes and on her lips.

The lightly blushing girl was mentally cheering at the blonde's expression, _'Yatta! Operation: Stupefy Naruto-kun is a success! I'm going to have to definitely thank ba-san for these clothes later.'_

"Wow," Naruto whispered reverently. "I must have gone to heaven, for surely Kami-sama's most beautiful angel is standing here before me," The blonde said, making the Hyuuga heiress's blush darken slightly. The two guards, even if they didn't show it, were impressed with the line and were memorizing it for when they would take their girlfriends out.

"You are looking quite handsome yourself Naruto-kun," Hinata complimented back with a sincere smile.

Naruto smiled somewhat sheepishly as he said, "Thanks Hinata." He quickly looked over at the setting sun and turned back to Hinata. "We should be going now, or else we're going to miss the show," He said and held out a hand to the shy heiress.

Hinata placed her hand in his and marveled at how well they seemed to fit together before she said, "I wouldn't want to miss it for the world."

Hand in hand the two walked through the streets of Konoha. A few of the villagers that saw that the two of them walking together holding hands were confused at what the shy, pure Hyuuga heiress was doing with the 'Kyuubi'. Surely someone as pure and pristine as the heiress couldn't be willingly corrupted by a demon, could they?

But, seeing the girl giggling softly at the story that the blonde was telling her made a small amount of villagers wonder if, perhaps, they were wrong about the blonde-haired boy.

Soon, the two came to a spot below the Hokage monument and Naruto stopped walking. He turned to a curious Hinata and pulled out a black blindfold.

In response to her questioning look he asked, "Could you put this on Hinata? I want where we're going to be a surprise." Hinata accepted the blindfold with a nod and tied it on her head over her eyes.

When he saw that she was done, he gently grabbed her right hand and placed it on his shoulder before he formed a handseal. "Hold on tight Hinata, and don't let go," Naruto said. After he was sure she had secure grip on his shoulder he calmly intoned, "Shushin no Jutsu."

In a 'poof' of smoke, the two disappeared and reappeared on top of the Hokage Monument. After the smoke dissipated, Hinata swayed unsteadily and nearly fell to her knees before Naruto grabbed her in a gentle hug that sent the midnight-blue-haired girl blushing at the feeling of Naruto's muscular body.

"Sorry 'bout that Hinata, I should've told you that the first time is always a little unsettling," Naruto apologized.

Hinata took a shaky breath before she replied, "T-that's okay Naruto-kun. It wasn't that bad." She regained her footing and regretfully pulled herself from Naruto's body. "I'm okay now."

Naruto smiled, "Good." He grabbed her hand and started guiding Hinata to where he had set up their picnic as he teasingly said, "I hope you're not using your Byakugan to peek. Otherwise it won't be a surprise."

Hinata smiled since the thought had occurred to her, although for other (less pure) reasons, before she said, "Don't worry Naruto-kun. I'm not peeking."

"Good," Naruto said before he stopped and turned towards Hinata, still holding her delicate hand. "You can take off the blindfold now."

Hinata reached up with her free hand and pulled off her blindfold, the loose knot she had tied easily coming undone. The sight that greeted her lavender eyes prompted a soft gasp to pass her lips as he hand let the blindfold flutter down to the ground. It wasn't the black cloth that had a small assortment of food laid out on it along with the lavender candles burning slowly, but what lay beyond.

A golden-orange sun was setting, changing the sky to various hues that only a sunset could create; the deep-red that turned into rich purple which led up to the remainder of the sapphire-blue sky. The few clouds that lingered in the sky had either been painted magenta with a light pink bottom or golden with a hood of grey. Dotted across the purple expanse in the sky were the night's first stars, each eagerly waiting for the sun to sink so that they could shine to their full radiance.

All Hinata could utter were words that she felt would never be able to fully describe the sight she was seeing, "It's so beautiful."

Naruto nodded in agreement, "Yeah. I like to come up here every now and then to just watch the sunset or sunrise since the view is so great up here." He looked over at her and smiled as he said, "Now, I believe we came up here to have dinner."

Hinata smiled back and nodded, "That we did."

The two walked over to where the picnic cloth was and started eating the food that Naruto had prepared earlier that day. After taking her first bite, Hinata instantly complimented Naruto on his cooking and said that the last time she could remember having food this good was back when her mother was still alive. This led to Naruto asking when and how she died.

Hinata told the blonde that her mother had gotten sick while she had been pregnant with her younger sister and that while they managed to save her sister, they couldn't do anything for her mother. She then went on to say how her father had become stricter in her training, how he would always comment on whenever she did something wrong and never when she did something right.

Naruto was silent for a moment as he processed this while Hinata tried to hold back her tears. Naruto stood and walked over to Hinata before he sat down right beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"To me it seems like he doesn't want to lose you," he softly said. When she looked at him in confusion he smiled lightly as he continued, "Your father lost the woman he loved and he probably felt weak and powerless because he couldn't do anything to help her. I think the reason he's so harsh and strict with you is because he doesn't want to lose you either. He cares Hinata; he just probably has a hard time showing it properly."

The lavender-eyed girl let a few tears fall to the ground when she heard this and promptly wrapped Naruto in a hug. The blonde was startled for a moment before he returned the gesture and held her gently in his arms.

"Arigatou Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered softly.

"No problem…Hinata-chan," Naruto whispered back. They pulled back slightly, their arms still loosely around each other, and just stared into each other's eyes, sapphire meeting lavender, oblivious to the world around them.

Naruto knew at that moment that he had to tell her about his secret. If she rejected him because of _it_, well, it would be better to do it now than after things began to get serious for the two.

"Hinata-chan, there's something I have to tell you, but I'm not sure how to say it," Naruto nervously began. He was surprised when a lightly-smiling Hinata placed a finger on his lips.

"Don't worry, I know you are the container for the Kyuubi and I don't care," she said, further shocking the blonde.

"What? When did-? I mean, how?" Naruto tried to get out the question, but his mind was in too much confusion to function correctly.

Hinata giggled at his expression before she explained, "Last night, a messenger told tou-san that someone had stolen the Forbidden Scroll and since I knew you hadn't passed the exams, I immediately assumed the worst and thought that you had taken it." She raised an eyebrow when he sheepishly smiled but continued on, "So, I snuck out and started looking for you. After a couple of minutes, I had just rounded a corner and standing a few feet away were these two chunin. I went back around the corner and I was just about to be on my way when I heard them talking about who could have stolen the scroll."

Hinata sighed and leaned her head on the blonde's chest before she continued, "One of them said 'The demon brat must have taken it' and then the other said 'Yeah, I guess the Kyuubi has finally decided to show his true colors'. Then someone else came up and asked for a report, one of the chunin started to say something about the 'demon brat' again, but apparently the new person didn't like that because the chunin stuttered and corrected himself by saying your name. I filled in the rest for myself as I made my way back home."

"So now you know," Naruto said, "And you aren't…" he trailed off, not sure what to say.

"Afraid? Disgusted? Angry? Downright revolted?" Hinata filled in before both chuckled. "No, you're still you except now I know you have a fox sealed in your belly. You'll always be Naruto-kun, the stubborn blonde who never gives up to me."

Naruto hooked a finger underneath her chin and guided her face closer to his. "Thank you, Hinata-chan," He whispered and then his lips claimed hers underneath the light of the moon.

Down on the Hokage's Tower stood two figures that were watching the scene through binoculars. Both were cheering for their younger brother and his accomplishment.

"Alright Naru!" The two quietly shouted as they gave each other a high-five and wishing their other brother could be here to see this.

-- (Otafuki no Gai) --

Denkou sneezed and almost tripped due to the force of it. As he rubbed his nose the brown-haired boy thought, 'Why do I have this sudden urge to shout 9.95?'

He was torn from his musings by a scream of pain as the body of a man flew past him at high speeds. Denkou followed the flight of the man who crashed into a nearby fruit stand.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR TRYING TO GROPE ME YOU FUCKING PERVERT!!" A female's voice angrily shouted that made Denkou stop in surprise. The brunette looked over at where the voice came from and saw the owner standing on the other side of a hole in the wall.

The woman had platinum-blonde hair that came down to her back in two specialized pigtails and a purple diamond in the middle of her forehead. She wore a green jacket that had the kanji for 'gambler' on the back over a white gi that barely contained her impossibly huge breasts along with blue leather pants that clung to her strong legs. Currently, her almond-brown eyes were narrowed in anger as she glared at the man she had just thrown through the wall.

Her name was Senju Tsunade, granddaughter of the Shodaime Hokage and the world's greatest medical shinobi.

'_And if Tsunade-shishou is here,'_ Denkou thought as he looked over at the wall, _'then that means __she__ is here as well.'_

"Tsunade-sama!" Another female voice scolded as the owner of the voice came within view of the hole and Denkou's heart fluttered when he saw her.

Her black hair just came down to her shoulders and framed her face which held two black eyes. She was wearing a dark blue kimono that came down to the her knees with a small slit to give a tantalizing, teasing view of one of the woman's toned legs and was open slightly at the top to reveal just the tiniest bit of her cleavage along with the mesh bodysuit she wore underneath. In her arms rested a pink pig that was wearing a red and tan vest, and, if anything, also looked slightly annoyed at Tsunade's behavior.

Denkou smiled as the black-haired woman began scolding the clearly older blonde and he walked closer before shouting, "Shizune-chan, Tsunade-shishou!" The two looked over at him before both smiled.

"Denkou-kun!" "Gaki," Shizune and Tsunade greeted respectively. The black-haired girl climbed through the hole and walked over to the brunette before she gave him a hug that sent the boy blushing lightly. Tsunade smirked in amusement as she stepped through the hole as well and made her way over to the two.

When black-haired girl apprentice had released Denkou from the hug Tsunade ruffled his shaggy brown hair as she said, "So what brings you out here gaki? Surely you didn't come all this way just to get a hug from Shizune did you?" Her question sent the other two into blushes of embarrassment while the pig, named Ton-Ton, squealed in what sounded like mocking laughter.

Denkou shook his head as the group started walking off to nowhere in particular before he replied, "No, I actually came out here to get some supplies that I needed for some modifications to the Den." His face suddenly brightened before he said, "But while I'm here I can show you a medical jutsu I developed. We should probably go somewhere secluded though; I don't think it would be wise for me to show it out in the open."

Tsunade nodded and said, "We can head to the hotel room Shizune and I are renting."

With that, they set off ignoring the hole in the wall and the crowd that was gathering. As they walked back to the blonde sannin's hotel room, the two women inquired to Denkou about what had happened to him since the three (four if you count Ton-Ton) of them had last been together. The brunette told the two that he and his brothers had all passed their graduation exam as well as the beat down they had given to Mizuki. Both of the women laughed when Denkou mentioned that Naruto and he might have hit Mizuki in his balls with their respective weapons.

Soon they arrived at the hotel room and the three plus the pig entered. Tsunade sat down on one of the beds and chucked her jacket off to the corner, not caring that her top was barely keeping her huge breasts from popping out into the open.

"Alright gaki, let's see this jutsu of yours," Tsunade said as Shizune sat down on the other bed in the room. Denkou nodded and reached into his pack before he pulled out the scroll, not the least bit affected by the barely concealed sight of Tsunade's enormous hooters (Something that impressed the two women since Denkou would constantly be blushing the last time he had studied under Tsunade).

He unrolled it on the other bed and palmed the seal. An unconscious clone of the brown-haired boy appeared with a poof of smoke.

Oblivious to the stares, Denkou started speaking, "Tsunade-shishou do you remember that one time where you mentioned that one medical jutsu used to shock a person's nervous system, but you said it was too dangerous to use unless in an extremely controlled situation due to the fact that the nervous system is very sensitive?" When she nodded the brown-haired boy grinned and continued, "Well, one day after me and the others were sparring I thought about what you had told me about it since Naruto had been knocked unconscious so I thought; 'If the nervous system is as fragile as shishou said, then what about the chakra system?' So I fired up the jutsu and instead of targeting the nervous system I went after Naruto's chakra networks. It worked…sort of," he admitted as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

Tsunade, who was looking very intrigued, asked, "What happened?"

"Well he woke up, but for the next hour he was like a chipmunk that had inhaled too much sugar and caffeine before he fell flat on his face," he said and shrugged at their disbelieving looks before continuing, "Apparently, when the jutsu is used in that way it gives the target an incredible energy boost that eventually leads to a crash in all motor functions. So, I changed it up a little and came up with this."

Denkou went through a quick group of handseal before he clapped his hands together. After a couple seconds he began to quickly rub his hands up and down. Soon, they began to emit a bright yellow shine and the sound of crackling filled the room. After a minute or so of doing this, Denkou slowly pulled his hands apart and the women were shocked to see little bolts of lightning dance between the two appendages.

"Clear!" Denkou shouted before he quickly slammed both of his hands onto his clone's body. A moment after Denkou's hand slammed onto its body the clone snapped awake and immediately drew in quick gasps of air. Once its breathing leveled out, it tenderly sat up and looked around.

The clone then turned back to the original and asked, "Does this mean I can go now?" Denkou nodded and the clone shimmered out of existence. The brunette Jinchuuriki looked up at the two astonished women (and one indifferent pig) and smiled as he said, "After a lot of practice on my brothers that usually left them grumbling obscenities, I developed what I like to call; the Dangei Kara Nemuri no Jutsu."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and asked, "Shock From Sleep Technique? Not very original gaki."

"Says the woman who didn't come up with the idea first," Denkou countered. The blonde-haired woman grumbled while Shizune giggled at the look on her mentors face. Before Tsunade could say anything back at him, Denkou said, "It still targets the chakra system, all I really had to do was lower the actual amount of my chakra that I had put into the technique and change it to be more aligned with my lightning element. However, there is a drawback. The user needs to have an elemental alignment with lightning in order to use the technique, otherwise they'll end up severely shocking themselves."

"Nevertheless it is impressive. Don't you think so Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked her mentor.

Tsunade nodded her head in agreement as she said, "Yes it is, but you're going to be hard-pressed to find those with a lightning alignment in Konoha gaki."

The brown-haired boy groaned and asked, "Are you ever going to stop calling me 'gaki'?"

The blonde-haired buxom woman smirked before she answered, "I'll stop when you ask Shizune out on a date."

Both teens blushed while Shizune shouted, "Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade shrugged as she asked, "What? You like him, he likes you, so quit beating around the bush already!"

Before Shizune could shout again Denkou went over to her and whispered something in the black-haired woman's ear. She looked at him with an eyebrow raised before her gaze shifted back to a confused Tsunade and she began giggling lightly.

The yellow-eyed boy grinned and held out an arm to her, "Shall we be going milady?"

Shizune giggled again before she stood up and accepted the arm. Together the two walked out of the hotel room, leaving a blonde that was torn between satisfaction and bemusement.

Tsunade looked over at Ton-Ton and asked, "What the heck just happened?" The pink pig just 'buwei'-ed in confusion.

Meanwhile Shizune and Denkou walked arm in arm to a nearby restaurant, sharing a laugh between them about what the brown-haired boy had whispered to Shizune before they had left the room: "Let's leave her to her whimsical matchmaking, it's one of the few sports an old hag has left." The two sat down and ordered some dinner while they talked a little bit more about what each had been doing since the time they had last been together.

Denkou nearly busted a gut when Shizune told him about the time her and Tsunade stumbled on a nudist colony that had a massive genjutsu in it that made everyone's clothes invisible. Apparently the saying about streets running red with blood came true in this instance since Tsunade's nude body had caused the whole teen and adult population to have massive nosebleeds (even the women).

Denkou relayed to Shizune the tale of how Naruto had painted the Hokage monument in bright daylight while he had been wearing his hideous orange jumpsuit. It was Shizune's turn to laugh when the brown-haired boy described what Naruto down to each face; after painting a huge icha icha book next to the faces, he had the Shodaime looking at the book slightly annoyed with it, the Nidaime had his eyes pointing skywards as if he was exasperated, the Sandaime had a nosebleed and a small blush, and finally the Yondaime looked like he was laughing at the other three Hokages' expressions.

To the both of them, the date seemed to end too soon. Denkou walked Shizune back to the hotel she was staying at and before she entered, gave her a light peck on the cheek and left to go get the supplies he needed.

Shizune was in a slight daze as she walked up to her and Tsunade's room. Upon seeing her apprentice's state, Tsunade smirked to herself mentally cheered at her ability to pair up her students.

**--- (One week later) ---**

The four brothers once more arrived at the Academy and split up to their classrooms. Naruto smiled as he entered the room and saw Hinata sitting in her chosen spot at the top of the room. The blonde nodded his head in acknowledgement to Shino, who nodded back, as he walked up and sat down beside Hinata. As he slid his hand into hers, Hinata leaned over and kissed him on his cheek which caused Shino to raise an eyebrow before the Aburame smiled an unseen smile and went back to looking out the window.

Naruto returned the kiss and looked over his girlfriend. Hinata had decided to trade in her bulky jacket for a more form-fitting one that she, with some encouragement from Naruto, decided to leave unzipped and revealed the purple tanktop she wore underneath that clung to her body (that could unanimously be agreed was definitely better than any of the other girls in the class) like a second skin. Since the two had started dating, Hinata's confidence had exponentionally increased which partially explained her change in apparel.

The blonde leaned back in his chair and thought back on the meeting he had with Hiashi Hyuuga, Hinata's father, when he had gone to take her on their second date. The Hyuuga Head had approved of Naruto's going out with his daughter and only laid down three stipulations: Hinata was to be home before eleven o'clock at night, there was to be no drinking of any alcohol, and finally, absolutely no sex until the both of them were at least chunin (Naruto couldn't get rid of his blush for the next thirty minutes after that last one, nor could Hinata once he told her about the stipulations). Her father's approval had been the deciding factor in the midnight-blue haired girl's change.

So now here they both were, waiting for the team announcements to be made and praying to Kami-sama that they could be on the same team as their significant other. Soon, the rest of the students piled into the room, many of the boys do double-takes at Hinata's new look while many of the girls self-consciously glanced down at their own less-than-stellar bodies and seemed to shrink in on themselves.

One deluded fool made the mistake of trying to ask Hinata out while completely ignoring the signs that the Hyuuga heiress was already taken. He soon found himself going cross-eyed as he stared down the length of one of Naruto's combat knives.

The fools' eyes snapped back to Naruto when the blonde said, "I'd appreciate it if you would back off of my girlfriend dude. Or else you'll become well and truly blind." To emphasize his point, Naruto twisted the knife so that the blade was horizontal and poised to slash into either the fool's right or left eye. The fool got the point slowly backed off while Naruto kept the knife in his hand. To help drive home the statement Naruto made, Hinata turned the blonde's head to her and proceeded to lip-lock with him.

Iruka, who had walked in right when the kiss began, coughed to bring attention to himself before he said, "Alright lovebirds. If you can finish up we can get along to the team assignments." Hinata and Naruto broke apart with small blushes lighting up each of their faces. Iruka smiled as he continued speaking, "Before I begin reading the actual team assignments could Uzumaki Naruto, Aburame Shino, and Hyuuga Hinata please go out to the hall?"

The three aforementioned genin-to-be looked slightly confused before they all stood up and walked out into the hallway (Hinata and Naruto holding hands). Once the three of them arrived in the hall, they were surprised to see an Anbu with a boar mask waiting for them. Without any explanation, the Anbu motioned for the three to follow him and began leading them away from the academy.

Soon, the small group arrived at a nondescript black building bore the kanji for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai. The boar-masked Anbu lead the way into the building and through the plain hallways of the Anbu headquarters. Soon he came to a stop at a set of double doors and turned to face the three genin-to-be's.

"This is usually the part where the mysterious stranger offers some small bit of wisdom right?" He asked and gained a small sweatdrop from the three teens. After the three nodded slowly the Anbu looked up at the ceiling in thought before he looked back down at them. "Ah, how about this: I can only show you the door; you're the one that will need to open it."

The three young ones looked at each other in confusion at the line before Naruto shrugged and opened the door, holding it as Hinata and Shino before he himself went through. They found themselves in a medium-sized room that contained an assortment of people.

Nadare, Kaen, and Denkou were there along with the black-haired boy that had fought against Shino as well as the black and white-haired twins from the taijutsu portion of the final exam. There was also a small group of Anbu standing in a semi-circle behind the Hokage.

Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled lightly at the new arrivals and said, "Good. Now, I bet you're all wondering why you are here. There's a rather simple explanation: you nine are here to become Anbu."

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**Chapter End**

**Unknown-nin345: Well, that's the end of Chapter Four. **

**I'm sorry if it's long but I just wanted to get the dates all done with and out of the way. And for those of you who are wondering what Nadare and Ayame did since I didn't feature their date; They went dancing at a jazz club and had dinner at a semi-exclusive restaurant, not one for the very rich people, but a place the average jane and joe could go every now and then.**

**I'm surprised that no one has managed to guess who had seen the Brothers true forms yet. Someone guessed it was Hinata, but as you read in this chapter it wasn't her. How about a little prize for the first who manages to guess who saw them: You'll get to pick who the Brother's fight against during the preliminaries of the Chunin Exams. **

**That good enough incentive? Then get guessing.**

**COWABUNGA!!!**


End file.
